Creative Planning Acquires 2,732 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Creative Planning lifted its position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 203.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,077 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,732 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 401 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth about $61,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 513 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.70, for a total value of $89,621.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,258,155. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,787 shares of company stock valued at $352,178. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AVAV. Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.20.

AeroVironment Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $215.39 on Friday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.77 and a fifty-two week high of $224.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.59. The stock has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.12 and a beta of 0.50.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

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.