AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) PT Raised to $165.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) had its price target raised by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $160.00 to $165.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.09% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AVAV. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Friday, March 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on AeroVironment from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.20.

AeroVironment Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $148.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.66, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $139.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.46 and a beta of 0.44. AeroVironment has a twelve month low of $88.24 and a twelve month high of $184.61.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $186.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.62 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 15.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.77, for a total transaction of $176,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,181,165.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.00, for a total value of $350,079.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,310. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.77, for a total value of $176,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,181,165.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 106.9% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 556,853 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $62,106,000 after purchasing an additional 287,730 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 24.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,350,501 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $127,136,000 after purchasing an additional 266,607 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 7.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,860,954 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $319,082,000 after purchasing an additional 209,359 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 5.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,860,339 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $363,412,000 after purchasing an additional 192,305 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the second quarter valued at $15,640,000. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AeroVironment

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.