Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,331 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 49.8% in the 1st quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,800 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 8.8% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 350,733 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $53,760,000 after purchasing an additional 28,288 shares during the last quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at $3,055,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 50.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 401 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVAV opened at $170.31 on Thursday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.00 and a 12-month high of $224.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.72 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.46 and a 200 day moving average of $155.32.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The aerospace company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $197.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.48 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 8.32% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,807,052.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AVAV shares. BTIG Research started coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.20.

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.