Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Acquires 241,310 Shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. $AVB

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,509,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 241,310 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in AvalonBay Communities were worth $273,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,537,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,858,788,000 after purchasing an additional 92,467 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AvalonBay Communities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,394,635,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,497,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $815,360,000 after purchasing an additional 383,983 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 6.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,215,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,376,000 after purchasing an additional 249,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AvalonBay Communities by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,151,217 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $750,042,000 after purchasing an additional 228,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AVB shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $212.00 to $198.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of AvalonBay Communities from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $198.44.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AVB stock opened at $189.72 on Friday. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.10 and a 52-week high of $209.86. The stock has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $177.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.38.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by ($0.47). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 37.21% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The business had revenue of $770.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $768.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AvalonBay Communities, Inc. will post 11.31 EPS for the current year.

AvalonBay Communities Company Profile

AvalonBay Communities, Inc (NYSE: AVB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, redevelops and manages multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on professionally managed apartment communities, offering a range of rental housing options and related resident services. As a REIT, AvalonBay’s core activities center on the acquisition and development of apartment assets and the ongoing operations and leasing of those communities.

AvalonBay’s operating activities include ground-up development, strategic redevelopment of existing properties, property and asset management, and on-site leasing and resident services.