Brokerages Set AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Price Target at $225.20

Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $225.20.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVAV. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of AeroVironment from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $216.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AeroVironment from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised AeroVironment from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.73, for a total transaction of $78,697.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,273,480.56. This represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock worth $373,609. Insiders own 1.27% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AeroVironment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVAV. Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the second quarter valued at approximately $838,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 29.6% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 27,259 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $4,965,000 after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares during the period. Tower View Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the second quarter valued at $1,326,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AeroVironment in the second quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in AeroVironment during the 2nd quarter worth $330,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AVAV traded down $1.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $160.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 164,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,084. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.02 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.70. AeroVironment has a 1 year low of $116.51 and a 1 year high of $236.60. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 4.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $188.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $181.80 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 6.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

AeroVironment Company 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.