AvalonBay Communities Inc (AVB) Increases Dividend to $1.52 Per Share

AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 4th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of 1.52 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, April 15th. This represents a $6.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a positive change from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47.

AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend by an average of 5.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. AvalonBay Communities has a dividend payout ratio of 65.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AvalonBay Communities to earn $9.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.2%.

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Shares of NYSE AVB traded up $2.16 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $192.36. 45,136 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 545,641. AvalonBay Communities has a 1 year low of $152.65 and a 1 year high of $193.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

In other news, COO Sean J. Breslin sold 3,366 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.08, for a total transaction of $636,443.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.51, for a total value of $269,265.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,453 shares of company stock valued at $7,365,478 over the last 90 days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVB. ValuEngine upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 24th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $168.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 17th. BTIG Research upgraded AvalonBay Communities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $216.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 6th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on AvalonBay Communities from $196.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.50.

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About AvalonBay Communities

As of September 30, 2018, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 290 apartment communities containing 84,490 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 19 communities were under development and 15 communities were under redevelopment. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas primarily in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northern and Southern California regions of the United States.

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