AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $240.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James cut shares of AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.50.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of AVAV opened at $200.06 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $206.15 and its 200-day moving average is $192.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 3.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 93.92 and a beta of 0.49. AeroVironment has a fifty-two week low of $116.51 and a fifty-two week high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The business had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. AeroVironment’s revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.65, for a total value of $110,058.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,868 shares in the company, valued at $3,654,452.20. This trade represents a 2.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $372,615 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth about $854,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Natixis bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the first quarter valued at approximately $924,000. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in AeroVironment by 53.9% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,991 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 6,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in AeroVironment by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,636 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after buying an additional 3,958 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.