HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 893 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,699 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $1,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in AeroVironment by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 88,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,590,000 after acquiring an additional 19,089 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in AeroVironment during the 1st quarter worth approximately $23,501,000. Virtu Financial LLC raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 221.1% during the 1st quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 4,058 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,541 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after buying an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,438 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Monday, August 4th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $225.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $210.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Monday, August 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.46.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 17,300 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.05, for a total value of $4,550,765.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,233 shares in the company, valued at $32,153,390.65. This trade represents a 12.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AeroVironment Price Performance

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $245.90 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.25 and a 12-month high of $295.90. The company has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 158.65 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $249.86 and its 200-day moving average is $186.14.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. AeroVironment had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $275.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $242.69 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AeroVironment 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.