AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Earns “Buy” Rating from BTIG Research

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $245.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

AVAV has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of AeroVironment from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $216.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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, Raymond James downgraded shares of AeroVironment from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $208.20.

AeroVironment Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AVAV opened at $174.96 on Tuesday. AeroVironment has a 1 year low of $104.67 and a 1 year high of $224.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 78.81 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 3.04.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that AeroVironment will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total value of $77,703.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,799.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total value of $77,703.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,799.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,892 shares in the company, valued at $16,904,723.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,928,305. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 50.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 401 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.