Quest Partners LLC Takes Position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,308 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,951,393 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $391,254,000 after acquiring an additional 439,717 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in AeroVironment by 19,950.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 267,066 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $53,547,000 after purchasing an additional 265,734 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC lifted its position in AeroVironment by 10.2% during the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 217,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $43,642,000 after purchasing an additional 20,207 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AeroVironment by 108.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 180,824 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $36,255,000 after buying an additional 94,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in AeroVironment by 14.2% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 165,645 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $33,212,000 after buying an additional 20,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

AeroVironment Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $196.50 on Wednesday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $116.51 and a twelve month high of $236.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $207.68 and its 200 day moving average is $194.20. 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 company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.25 and a beta of 0.49.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 9.87% and a net margin of 7.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.65, for a total transaction of $110,058.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,868 shares in the company, valued at $3,654,452.20. This trade represents a 2.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $372,615. Insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment 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.