AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 39.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 742 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 489 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVAV. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,088 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter valued at $570,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 319.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 667 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AeroVironment in the 2nd quarter worth about $400,000. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in AeroVironment during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,939,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on AeroVironment from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on AeroVironment from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $356.00.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of AVAV opened at $280.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of -438.98, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $335.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $262.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a current ratio of 5.96. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.25 and a twelve month high of $417.86.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 28th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $132.62 million during the quarter. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 4.67% and a negative net margin of 4.14%. As a group, research analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 25.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 998 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 19,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,724,575.76. This trade represents a 4.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 3,228 shares of company stock worth $1,223,157 over the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.