Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,459 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $10,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the 3rd 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 period. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the third quarter valued at about $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $356,000 after buying an additional 14,180 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in 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 worth $32,983,000 after buying an additional 108,371 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,837,000 after acquiring an additional 11,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.33.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $220.23 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.37 and a 12 month high of $239.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $221.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $31.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.99.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued 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 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. Research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.