AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($1.42), Yahoo Finance reports. The firm had revenue of $712.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.61 million. AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 8.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $191.02. The company had a trading volume of 903,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,557. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.68. AvalonBay Communities has a 1-year low of $160.45 and a 1-year high of $198.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. AvalonBay Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.19%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 shares were 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AvalonBay Communities 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 shares were sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total transaction of $928,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,330.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joanne M. Lockridge sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.10, for a total transaction of $323,925.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,985.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVB. Wolfe Research cut shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $191.50 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $201.00 to $197.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $199.78.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

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.