AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $230.00 to $190.00. The stock had previously closed at $141.90, but opened at $110.07. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AeroVironment shares last traded at $133.70, with a volume of 898,069 shares.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AVAV. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on AeroVironment from $220.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.40.

Institutional Trading of AeroVironment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in AeroVironment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,759,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,951,393 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $391,254,000 after buying an additional 439,717 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $46,789,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AeroVironment in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,502,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 155.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 321,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $64,457,000 after buying an additional 195,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 4.61 and a quick ratio of 3.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.37.

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

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.