AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 10.710-11.110 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 10.870. The company issued revenue guidance of -. AvalonBay Communities also updated its FY24 guidance to $10.71-11.11 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AVB. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of AvalonBay Communities in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley raised AvalonBay Communities from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $191.50 in a report on Monday, February 26th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on AvalonBay Communities from $201.00 to $197.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on AvalonBay Communities in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $206.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised AvalonBay Communities from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $194.00 to $204.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $196.78.

AvalonBay Communities Price Performance

Shares of AvalonBay Communities stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $191.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 945,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,005. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $182.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.67. AvalonBay Communities has a 12-month low of $160.45 and a 12-month high of $198.65. The company has a market cap of $27.22 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 3.56 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.

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.73 by ($1.03). AvalonBay Communities had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The business had revenue of $704.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $701.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AvalonBay Communities will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AvalonBay Communities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. This is an increase from AvalonBay Communities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. AvalonBay Communities’s payout ratio is presently 101.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total value of $928,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,308 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,330.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Kevin P. O’shea sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.65, for a total value of $928,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,308 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,330.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Joanne M. Lockridge sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.10, for a total value of $323,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,907 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,985.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.