Brokerages Set AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Price Target at $208.20

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $208.20.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James cut AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.70, for a total transaction of $89,621.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,650 shares in the company, valued at $3,258,155. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,787 shares of company stock valued at $352,178. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 322,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $40,641,000 after acquiring an additional 17,985 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 401 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in AeroVironment during the 1st quarter worth $854,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AeroVironment by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,376,000 after purchasing an additional 179,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at about $924,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ:AVAV opened at $215.39 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $189.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.59. AeroVironment has a 52 week low of $104.77 and a 52 week high of $224.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.12 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.26.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS 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 company had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal 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.