AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Position Lessened by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its holdings in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,836 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 21,421 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.06% of AeroVironment worth $3,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVAV. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AeroVironment during the 4th quarter valued at $9,784,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in AeroVironment by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 56,564 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,129,000 after acquiring an additional 17,359 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in AeroVironment by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in AeroVironment by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AeroVironment by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,234 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total transaction of $1,669,792.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,892 shares in the company, valued at $16,904,723.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total transaction of $1,669,792.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,904,723.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 513 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.70, for a total value of $89,621.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,258,155. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,776 shares of company stock worth $1,837,117. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AVAV shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James downgraded AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Baird R W raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVAV opened at $200.50 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 4.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.32 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.09. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.67 and a 52-week high of $224.00.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. AeroVironment’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AeroVironment 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.