Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 54,482 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,915,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,482 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.36% of AeroVironment worth $367,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in AeroVironment by 0.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 492,766 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $54,958,000 after buying an additional 3,122 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its position in AeroVironment by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 322,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $40,641,000 after buying an additional 17,985 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in AeroVironment by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 288,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $36,319,000 after buying an additional 4,728 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AeroVironment by 3.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 280,165 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $31,247,000 after buying an additional 8,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AeroVironment by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 237,477 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,932,000 after buying an additional 5,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Friday, March 8th. BTIG Research began coverage on AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.20.

AeroVironment Trading Down 7.7 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $177.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.00 and a twelve month high of $224.00. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.28 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $189.79 and its 200 day moving average is $153.77.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The aerospace company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.22. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $197.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. AeroVironment’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AeroVironment Company Profile

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.