American Century Companies Inc. Sells 28,757 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 355,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 28,757 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of AvalonBay Communities worth $78,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVB. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,245,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,097,971,000 after buying an additional 196,938 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 valued at $1,009,781,000 after purchasing an additional 27,629 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,585,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $805,113,000 after purchasing an additional 27,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $498,606,000 after purchasing an additional 26,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

AvalonBay Communities stock opened at $214.40 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $217.86 and its 200 day moving average is $222.78. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $177.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The firm has a market cap of $30.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 37.13%. As a group, research analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities 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.