Payden & Rygel Reduces Stock Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Payden & Rygel trimmed its position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,300 shares during the quarter. AvalonBay Communities comprises 1.4% of Payden & Rygel’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Payden & Rygel owned approximately 0.05% of AvalonBay Communities worth $16,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the fourth quarter worth $1,499,050,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,009,781,000 after purchasing an additional 27,629 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AvalonBay Communities by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,693,457 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $810,470,000 after purchasing an additional 107,655 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.40.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE:AVB opened at $191.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.40 and a twelve month high of $239.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $216.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 92.23%.

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.