Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $26.58 Million Stock Holdings in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,545 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,929 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of AeroVironment worth $26,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 132.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $275,367,000 after acquiring an additional 861,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 19,950.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 267,066 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $53,547,000 after purchasing an additional 265,734 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AeroVironment by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,376,000 after purchasing an additional 179,395 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AeroVironment by 120.6% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 136,603 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $24,884,000 after purchasing an additional 74,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 83.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 112,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $20,568,000 after buying an additional 51,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVAV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Baird R W raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AeroVironment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.54, for a total transaction of $184,854.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,658,343.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $372,615. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Trading Down 7.3 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $218.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.36 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $204.85 and its 200-day moving average is $192.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 3.04. AeroVironment, Inc. has a one year low of $116.51 and a one year high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.28. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The firm had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 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.