Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,545 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,929 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $26,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVAV. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AeroVironment by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 4,821 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $739,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 13.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,286 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 7.1% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 55,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,507,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 24.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 21,116 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,237,000 after buying an additional 4,186 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in AeroVironment during the first quarter worth about $191,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AVAV. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James lowered shares of AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.50.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,799.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,782 shares of company stock worth $372,615. Insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AeroVironment stock opened at $218.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.44. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $116.51 and a twelve month high of $236.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 102.36 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 4.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 9.87% and a net margin of 7.82%. AeroVironment’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current 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.