AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Up 4.3% After Analyst Upgrade

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shares rose 4.3% during trading on Monday after Raymond James Financial upgraded the stock from an underperform rating to a market perform rating. The stock traded as high as $211.50 and last traded at $206.27. Approximately 1,729,133 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 1,967,684 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.72.

AVAV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AeroVironment from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Zacks Research lowered AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on AeroVironment from $330.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on AeroVironment from $390.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.78.

Insider Activity

In other AeroVironment news, Director Stephen F. Page sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.62, for a total value of $377,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 51,001 shares in the company, valued at $19,258,997.62. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Brian Charles Shackley sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.52, for a total transaction of $42,504.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,340.88. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,486,038. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AeroVironment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVAV. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in AeroVironment in the first quarter valued at about $225,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $285,000. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,653 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,478,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $991,089,000 after acquiring an additional 433,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $779,000. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $266.04 and a 200-day moving average of $291.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 5.51, a quick ratio of 4.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The aerospace company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $408.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.94 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 13.93%.The business’s revenue was up 143.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.750-3.100 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AeroVironment

AeroVironment, Inc (NASDAQ:AVAV) is a technology company specializing in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), tactical missiles and precision loitering munitions, electric vehicle charging and scalable energy systems. Headquartered in Monrovia, California, the company develops solutions for defense, public safety and commercial markets. Their offerings include small UAS for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as advanced weapons systems designed to meet the needs of modern military operations.

The company’s unmanned aerial systems portfolio features platforms such as the Raven, Puma and Switchblade series, which are deployed by the U.S.