AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $10.71-11.11 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $10.86. AvalonBay Communities also updated its Q2 guidance to $2.63-2.73 EPS.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:AVB traded down $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $191.30. 1,073,207 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 814,883. The stock has a market cap of $27.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $182.10 and a 200-day moving average of $178.43. AvalonBay Communities has a fifty-two week low of $160.45 and a fifty-two week high of $198.65.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by ($1.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $704.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $701.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVB. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $201.00 to $197.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. KeyCorp reissued a sector weight rating on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded AvalonBay Communities from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $196.78.

Insider Activity at AvalonBay Communities

In related news, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total value of $928,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,330.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total value of $928,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,330.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joanne M. Lockridge sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.10, for a total value of $323,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,907 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,985.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.