Royal Bank of Canada Lowers AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Price Target to $215.00

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $230.00 to $215.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $210.20.

AeroVironment Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $179.47 on Thursday. AeroVironment has a 52-week low of $104.67 and a 52-week high of $224.00. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.84 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $177.97 and a 200-day moving average of $172.78.

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 8.32% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total value of $1,669,792.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,904,723.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,928,305 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 132.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $275,367,000 after purchasing an additional 861,962 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,376,000 after acquiring an additional 179,395 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AeroVironment by 3,565.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,288 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $21,589,000 after acquiring an additional 166,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 221,749 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,949,000 after acquiring an additional 144,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 756.3% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 102,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $12,876,000 after acquiring an additional 90,225 shares during the last quarter. 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.