AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $1.42 EPS

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

AvalonBay Communities Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AVB traded down $0.43 on Monday, reaching $191.02. The stock had a trading volume of 903,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,557. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. 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 50-day simple moving average of $182.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.68. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $160.45 and a 12-month high of $198.65.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research lowered AvalonBay Communities from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded AvalonBay Communities from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $191.50 in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $199.78.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total value 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 is available at the SEC website. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,985.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,330.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.