AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.03 EPS

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03), Zacks reports. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AVB traded up $3.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $224.27. 578,254 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 607,790. AvalonBay Communities has a 52 week low of $169.37 and a 52 week high of $239.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $31.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.68, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AVB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 2,261 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.78, for a total transaction of $528,576.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 111,436 shares in the company, valued at $26,051,508.08. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.