AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Gap Up to $182.76

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $182.76, but opened at $190.30. AeroVironment shares last traded at $195.17, with a volume of 89,005 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James downgraded AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

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 company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 87.91 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.62.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total value of $91,187.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,334 shares in the company, valued at $3,807,052.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,904,723.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,287 shares of company stock worth $1,928,305 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 50.2% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

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.