AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Stock Rating Lowered by Raymond James

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) was downgraded by Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AVAV. Baird R W raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.20.

AeroVironment Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of AeroVironment stock opened at $174.96 on Monday. AeroVironment has a 1 year low of $104.67 and a 1 year high of $224.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 3.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $179.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.81 and a beta of 0.50.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The firm had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. AeroVironment’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,904,723.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,287 shares of company stock worth $1,928,305. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,609 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,813 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 0.6% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 17,667 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,708,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in AeroVironment by 8.8% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 1,268 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

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.