AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $240.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

AVAV has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James downgraded AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.50.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVAV opened at $218.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $204.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.36 and a beta of 0.49. AeroVironment has a 12-month low of $116.51 and a 12-month high of $236.60. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.28. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The business had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 878 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.54, for a total value of $184,854.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,658,343.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,782 shares of company stock worth $372,615 over the last three months. 1.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in AeroVironment during the 1st quarter valued at $854,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% during 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 during the period. Natixis bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the first quarter worth about $924,000. Comerica Bank increased its stake in AeroVironment by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,991 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 6,648 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AeroVironment by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,636 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after buying an additional 3,958 shares in the last quarter. 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.