Metis Global Partners LLC Increases Holdings in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,473 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $7,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,672,682 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,866,011,000 after purchasing an additional 96,790 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 7.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,520,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,184,712,000 after buying an additional 367,853 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,814,430 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $818,653,000 after acquiring an additional 143,646 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in AvalonBay Communities by 5.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,779,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $596,533,000 after acquiring an additional 136,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,594,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $556,740,000 after acquiring an additional 105,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AVB. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $199.00 target price (down from $213.00) on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $228.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $212.92.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 1.2%

AVB stock opened at $177.29 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $166.73 and a twelve month high of $239.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.56.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.81 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $766.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.22 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 38.78% and a return on equity of 9.75%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.47%.

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.