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

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $175.20.

Several analysts have issued reports on AVAV shares. BTIG Research assumed coverage on AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,807,052.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,376,000 after acquiring an additional 179,395 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 8.8% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 350,733 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $53,760,000 after acquiring an additional 28,288 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 288,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $36,319,000 after acquiring an additional 4,728 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 3.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 280,165 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $31,247,000 after acquiring an additional 8,666 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 237,477 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,932,000 after acquiring an additional 5,652 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVAV opened at $170.13 on Tuesday. AeroVironment has a twelve month low of $91.00 and a twelve month high of $224.00. The company has a current ratio of 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.64 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $156.42.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The aerospace company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $197.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.48 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 8.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AeroVironment will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AeroVironment Company Profile

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.