Man Group plc Acquires New Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Man Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,837 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the second quarter worth $3,368,659,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 18,031.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 11,785,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $213,677,000 after purchasing an additional 11,720,150 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,858,788,000 after purchasing an additional 92,467 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter worth $1,394,635,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,159,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $935,551,000 after acquiring an additional 944,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVB opened at $184.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.02. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.10 and a fifty-two week high of $198.63. The company has a market capitalization of $26.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $777.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $772.37 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 33.33%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. Analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $1.78 dividend. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is currently 116.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AVB. Barclays lifted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Scotiabank raised their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $196.87.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.