AeroVironment Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:AVAV)

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 1,973 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 1,081 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.83.

AeroVironment Stock Down 15.9 %

Shares of AeroVironment stock opened at $165.62 on Friday. AeroVironment has a 52-week low of $116.51 and a 52-week high of $236.60. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.18 and a beta of 0.45. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $208.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.37.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $188.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.80 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AeroVironment will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.65, for a total transaction of $110,058.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,654,452.20. The trade was a 2.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock worth $373,609. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in AeroVironment by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,598 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,991 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 6,648 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $212,000. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the second quarter worth approximately $218,000. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.