AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

by · The Markets Daily

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB – Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a drop of 17.5% from the March 15th total of 3,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 738,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of AvalonBay Communities

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 29.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in 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 worth $914,627,000 after acquiring an additional 55,588 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 875.3% during 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 last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in AvalonBay Communities by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 344,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $75,701,000 after purchasing an additional 42,416 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock traded down $1.48 on Monday, reaching $201.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 641,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 695,737. The company has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. AvalonBay Communities has a 52 week low of $180.40 and a 52 week high of $239.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $211.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.04.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $1.75 dividend. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $226.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $236.00 to $223.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Read Our Latest Report on AVB

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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