AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $202.40.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AVAV shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $220.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $132.33 on Friday. AeroVironment has a 52 week low of $110.07 and a 52 week high of $236.60. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 76.05 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 4.61, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.26.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 17,808 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the third quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Wealth Quarterback LLC raised its position in shares of AeroVironment by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 1,823 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 141.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 693 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GDS Wealth Management acquired a new position in AeroVironment during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $426,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently 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.