AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV Shares Bought by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 49.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 2,860 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $2,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVAV. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the first quarter valued at $60,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth $220,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AeroVironment by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,957 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the first quarter valued at about $1,706,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 141.3% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 45,904 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,471,000 after acquiring an additional 26,882 shares in the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp set a $285.00 price target on AeroVironment in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AeroVironment to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $400.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.41.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVAV opened at $255.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.08, a quick ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -204.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.13. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.25 and a twelve month high of $417.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.72.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 9th. The aerospace company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.43). AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 3.42% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm had revenue of $472.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 150.7% compared to the same quarter last year. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.400-3.550 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 998 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $399.74, for a total value of $398,940.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,724,575.76. The trade was a 4.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $654,177.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,869,567. This trade represents a 25.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 3,739 shares of company stock valued at $1,350,585 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.