AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $415.00. The stock had previously closed at $360.28, but opened at $374.43. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. AeroVironment shares last traded at $373.64, with a volume of 263,628 shares changing hands.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $295.00 to $389.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $347.14.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 17,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 122,233 shares in the company, valued at $32,153,390.65. The trade was a 12.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 14.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,478,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $991,089,000 after acquiring an additional 433,830 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 48.2% during the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 902,814 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $107,606,000 after purchasing an additional 293,553 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 763,489 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $91,000,000 after purchasing an additional 221,948 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 678,431 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $193,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 609,019 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $173,540,000 after purchasing an additional 262,239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Trading Up 4.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $18.71 billion, a PE ratio of -585.37, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $264.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a current ratio of 5.96.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 9th. The aerospace company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $454.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $446.16 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 4.67% and a negative net margin of 4.14%.AeroVironment’s revenue for the quarter was up 140.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.600-3.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share 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.