Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Grows Stock Position in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,898 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 14,180 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,918,000 after buying an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,837,000 after buying an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AVB. Mizuho upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AvalonBay Communities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.64.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB opened at $211.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a one year low of $177.40 and a one year high of $239.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.93 and its 200-day moving average is $223.04.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.13% and a return on equity of 9.15%. Equities analysts anticipate that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.48 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.23%.

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.