Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,898 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $5,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVB. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.8% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 4,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the second quarter worth approximately $1,374,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,890 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 9.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 18,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,837,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $193.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $187.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $217.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $203.00 price target (down from $208.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.00.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE AVB opened at $176.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $171.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.10 and a fifty-two week high of $213.34.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $767.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 34.57%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.94%.

About AvalonBay Communities

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.