AvalonBay Communities, Inc. to Post FY2024 Earnings of $11.03 Per Share, Wedbush Forecasts (NYSE:AVB)

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) – Investment analysts at Wedbush lifted their FY2024 earnings estimates for AvalonBay Communities in a report released on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now expects that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $11.03 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $11.01. The consensus estimate for AvalonBay Communities’ current full-year earnings is $10.97 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for AvalonBay Communities’ Q4 2024 earnings at $2.86 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $11.68 EPS.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.93). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 29.61%. The firm had revenue of $726.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on AVB. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $213.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $205.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

NYSE AVB opened at $207.82 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.96. AvalonBay Communities has a 52-week low of $160.45 and a 52-week high of $218.79.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total value of $1,044,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,780,506.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 602,642 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,827,000 after acquiring an additional 18,320 shares during the period. Delta Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter valued at about $873,000. GSI Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. GSI Capital Advisors LLC now owns 50,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,506,000 after buying an additional 8,925 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 58,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,033,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 994,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $186,191,000 after buying an additional 21,760 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.