AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Baird R W

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) was upgraded by equities researchers at Baird R W from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. BTIG Research began coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AVAV opened at $203.61 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $177.34 and its 200-day moving average is $169.95. The stock has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 91.72 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. AeroVironment has a twelve month low of $93.94 and a twelve month high of $224.00.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The aerospace company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.21. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $197.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AeroVironment will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,807,052.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,807,052.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total value of $1,669,792.41. Following the sale, 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. Insiders have sold 10,891 shares of company stock valued at $1,850,601 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 132.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $275,367,000 after buying an additional 861,962 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AeroVironment by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,376,000 after purchasing an additional 179,395 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AeroVironment by 3,565.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,288 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $21,589,000 after purchasing an additional 166,615 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AeroVironment in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,287,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in AeroVironment by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 221,749 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,949,000 after purchasing an additional 144,628 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.