AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.70 (NYSE:AVB)

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 1.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.2% annually over the last three years. AvalonBay Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 121.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $11.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.9%.

AvalonBay Communities Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE AVB opened at $225.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. AvalonBay Communities has a 12 month low of $160.45 and a 12 month high of $236.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $219.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.72.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.93). The company had revenue of $726.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $718.49 million. AvalonBay Communities had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 29.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that AvalonBay Communities will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AVB shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $225.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $210.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $223.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total value of $414,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $908,026.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CIO Matthew H. Birenbaum sold 5,000 shares of AvalonBay Communities stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.90, for a total value of $1,044,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 65,967 shares in the company, valued at $13,780,506.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Keri A. Shea sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.17, for a total transaction of $414,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $908,026.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.