Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) to Hold

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) was downgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $240.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.31% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.50.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of AeroVironment stock opened at $217.56 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $205.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.61. AeroVironment has a 1-year low of $116.51 and a 1-year high of $236.60. 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 company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.14 and a beta of 0.49.

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. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 9.87% and a net margin of 7.82%. The business had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.65, for a total transaction of $110,058.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,654,452.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,782 shares of company stock worth $372,615 over the last 90 days. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVAV. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 4,821 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AeroVironment by 13.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,286 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in AeroVironment by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 55,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in AeroVironment by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 21,116 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,237,000 after purchasing an additional 4,186 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the 1st quarter valued at $191,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.