Sherman Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $116,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,590,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,009,781,000 after buying an additional 27,629 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after buying an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $805,113,000 after buying an additional 27,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,240,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $504,658,000 after buying an additional 78,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho raised shares of 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 research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AVB stock opened at $226.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.46 and a 12-month high of $239.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.43.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend 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.