AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.70 on January 15th

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 1.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend by an average of 1.2% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 121.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.8%.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Performance

NYSE:AVB opened at $229.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.97. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $166.60 and a fifty-two week high of $236.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $226.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.43.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 36.20%. The firm had revenue of $734.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $731.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AvalonBay Communities

In other news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares in the company, valued at $20,367,689.33. This represents a 21.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $234.00 to $233.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $222.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $206.00 to $249.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $226.88.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.