SVB Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 2,883 AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $634,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,060,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $914,627,000 after purchasing an additional 55,588 shares in the last quarter. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities during the third quarter valued at $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 14,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 22,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,918,000 after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AVB opened at $228.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.59. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.40 and a twelve month high of $239.29.

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

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. This is a boost from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is 92.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.64.

About AvalonBay Communities

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.