Swiss National Bank Raises Stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 20th, 2023

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV – Get Rating) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,300 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.23% of AeroVironment worth $4,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in AeroVironment by 202.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 339 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, Director Stephen F. Page sold 2,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.78, for a total value of $191,091.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,150,552.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVAV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Raymond James upgraded AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on AeroVironment in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.80.

AeroVironment Stock Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $106.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a PE ratio of -304.34 and a beta of 0.59. AeroVironment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.08 and a fifty-two week high of $110.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $99.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 6th. The aerospace company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $134.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.77 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 2.21% and a negative net margin of 1.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 49.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AeroVironment

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AeroVironment, Inc engages in the design, development, production, support and operation of unmanned aircraft systems and electric transportation solutions. The company was founded by Paul B. MacCready, Jr. in July 1971 and is headquartered in Arlington, VA.