Groupama Asset Managment Sells 9,087 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Groupama Asset Managment cut its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,812 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,087 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $736,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 21.0% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 44,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,646,000 after buying an additional 7,780 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 216,153 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,754,000 after buying an additional 6,511 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after acquiring an additional 6,916 shares during the period. Sun Life Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sun Life Financial Inc. now owns 161,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,117,000 after acquiring an additional 8,660 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 449,348 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,768,000 after acquiring an additional 67,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AVB shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $198.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $217.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $190.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $198.75.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE AVB opened at $161.33 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.72 and a 12 month high of $217.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $175.76 and its 200 day moving average is $181.23.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $767.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.38 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 34.57% and a return on equity of 8.78%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 86.94%.

AvalonBay Communities 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.