AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Receives $211.83 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $211.83.

A number of research analysts have commented on AVAV shares. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Raymond James cut AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of AeroVironment stock opened at $193.10 on Friday. AeroVironment has a twelve month low of $116.51 and a twelve month high of $236.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.66 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $208.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $194.36.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 9.87% and a net margin of 7.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.54, for a total value of $184,854.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,658,343.04. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $373,609 in the last three months. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in AeroVironment by 132.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $275,367,000 after purchasing an additional 861,962 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in AeroVironment by 19,950.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 267,066 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $53,547,000 after purchasing an additional 265,734 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in AeroVironment by 155.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 321,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $64,457,000 after purchasing an additional 195,443 shares during the period. Heard Capital LLC increased its position in AeroVironment by 25.5% in the third quarter. Heard Capital LLC now owns 592,136 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $118,723,000 after buying an additional 120,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 180,824 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $36,255,000 after acquiring an additional 94,062 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

About AeroVironment

AeroVironment, Inc designs, develops, produces, delivers, and supports a portfolio of robotic systems and related services for government agencies and businesses in the United States and internationally. It operates through Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS), Tactical Missile System (TMS), Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MUAS), and High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Systems (HAPS) segments.