Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 60.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,176 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVB. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in AvalonBay Communities by 18,031.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 11,785,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $213,677,000 after purchasing an additional 11,720,150 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,858,788,000 after purchasing an additional 92,467 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,394,635,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,159,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $935,551,000 after buying an additional 944,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,497,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $815,360,000 after buying an additional 383,983 shares during the period. 92.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AVB shares. Morgan Stanley restated 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AvalonBay Communities to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised AvalonBay Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $196.80.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVB opened at $190.71 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.10 and a 12 month high of $204.68.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by ($0.47). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 37.21%.The firm had revenue of $770.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $768.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $1.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 103.19%.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

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.