AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $225.20.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

AeroVironment Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:AVAV opened at $168.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.98 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 4.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $175.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.56. AeroVironment has a 52 week low of $119.46 and a 52 week high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.29). AeroVironment had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 6.39%. The business had revenue of $188.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. AeroVironment’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.73, for a total value of $78,697.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,480.56. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,951,393 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $391,254,000 after acquiring an additional 439,717 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,582,871 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $317,366,000 after buying an additional 7,471 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 634,189 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $127,180,000 after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the last quarter. Heard Capital LLC grew its holdings in AeroVironment by 25.5% during the third quarter. Heard Capital LLC now owns 592,136 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $118,723,000 after acquiring an additional 120,447 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in AeroVironment by 155.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 321,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,457,000 after acquiring an additional 195,443 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.