AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $140.20.

AVAV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Friday, March 8th.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In related news, VP Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,913 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.00, for a total value of $350,079.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at $470,310. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AeroVironment news, VP Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,913 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.00, for a total transaction of $350,079.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,310. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.77, for a total transaction of $176,770.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,181,165.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the first quarter worth approximately $357,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter worth $61,000. Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 49.8% during the first quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,800 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 8.8% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 350,733 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $53,760,000 after purchasing an additional 28,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the first quarter worth about $3,055,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Stock Down 1.9 %

AVAV opened at $146.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.02 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 4.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $143.25 and its 200 day moving average is $129.83. AeroVironment has a fifty-two week low of $88.24 and a fifty-two week high of $184.61.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $186.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.62 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 15.14%. The business’s revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 2.8 earnings per share 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.