Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Sells 13,500 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC trimmed its holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 93.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 13,500 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,918,000 after buying an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 146,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,983,000 after buying an additional 108,371 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho raised 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 report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $209.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $218.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.38. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $177.40 and a 52-week high of $239.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. Sell-side analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.75 dividend. 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. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 92.23%.

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.