AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.75 on April 15th

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.75 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70.

AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a payout ratio of 112.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.8%.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AVB stock opened at $221.59 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $169.37 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29. The stock has a market cap of $31.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. On average, analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

AvalonBay Communities, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the development, acquisition, ownership, and operation of multifamily communities. It operates through the following segments: Same Store, Other Stabilized, and Development or Redevelopment. The Same Store segment refers to the operating communities that were owned and had stabilized occupancy.