AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $194.89, but opened at $204.01. AeroVironment shares last traded at $196.86, with a volume of 203,852 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $230.00 in a report on Wednesday. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $211.83.

AeroVironment Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.20 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.86.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at $3,581,799.88. This represents a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $372,615. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,376,000 after acquiring an additional 179,395 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in AeroVironment by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,951,393 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $391,254,000 after acquiring an additional 439,717 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,582,871 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $317,366,000 after buying an additional 7,471 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 634,189 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $127,180,000 after acquiring an additional 4,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heard Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 25.5% in the third quarter. Heard Capital LLC now owns 592,136 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $118,723,000 after buying an additional 120,447 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

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.