AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Gap Up to $182.76

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $182.76, but opened at $190.30. AeroVironment shares last traded at $195.17, with a volume of 89,005 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVAV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 4.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $179.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.62. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.91 and a beta of 0.50.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total transaction of $1,669,792.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,904,723.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 513 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.70, for a total value of $89,621.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,258,155. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total transaction of $1,669,792.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,892 shares in the company, valued at $16,904,723.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,287 shares of company stock worth $1,928,305 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 119.6% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,717 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 4th quarter worth about $9,784,000. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 87,169 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,987,000 after purchasing an additional 14,749 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in AeroVironment by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 56,564 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,129,000 after purchasing an additional 17,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in AeroVironment by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.