Farther Finance Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC trimmed its position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVB. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 14,180 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,918,000 after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,837,000 after acquiring an additional 11,064 shares in the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of AVB stock opened at $210.66 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $217.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.97 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.40 and a fifty-two week high of $239.29.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.75 dividend. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zelman & Associates raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.64.

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.