Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Sells 56 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd decreased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 2.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVB. &PARTNERS bought a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,538,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the first quarter worth about $4,532,000. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the third quarter worth about $1,014,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in AvalonBay Communities during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,139,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 100,334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,338,000 after buying an additional 9,125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. This trade represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $206.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $226.88.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $235.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $226.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $214.54. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.37 and a 1 year high of $236.49.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $731.67 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.02%.

AvalonBay Communities Profile

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.