1,737 Shares in AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Acquired by Strategic Blueprint LLC

Strategic Blueprint LLC bought a new position in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,737 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 55,588 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in AvalonBay Communities in the 3rd quarter worth $1,014,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 14,180 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 284.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 146,429 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $32,983,000 after buying an additional 108,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 46.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 34,791 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,837,000 after buying an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $243.00 to $230.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut AvalonBay Communities from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $236.00 to $223.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $244.00 to $241.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $239.00 to $242.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $234.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at AvalonBay Communities

In other AvalonBay Communities news, Director Timothy J. Naughton sold 23,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.47, for a total transaction of $5,532,538.59. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 87,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,367,689.33. The trade was a 21.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AVB traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $220.99. 100,476 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 572,165. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.37 and a twelve month high of $239.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.79.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.10). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $734.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $731.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. AvalonBay Communities's payout ratio is presently 93.02%.

AvalonBay Communities Profile

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.