AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $217.4615.

Several analysts have weighed in on AVB shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $238.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $187.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $191.69 and its 200-day moving average is $199.88. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $180.40 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $689.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.08 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.91% and a return on equity of 9.70%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. AvalonBay Communities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.190-11.590 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AvalonBay Communities

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 7,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 46,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,477,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,204,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 253.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 22,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,654,000 after buying an additional 16,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carronade Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 51,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,388,000 after buying an additional 2,862 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.