William Blair Reiterates Outperform Rating for AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV)

William Blair restated their outperform rating on shares of AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,RTT News reports.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AeroVironment from $220.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.40.

AeroVironment Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of AVAV opened at $135.69 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.61, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.37. AeroVironment has a twelve month low of $110.07 and a twelve month high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $188.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.80 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 6.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AeroVironment

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 299.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,821 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 333,193 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $51,275,000 after acquiring an additional 32,663 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 136,652 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $21,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,107 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the fourth quarter valued at about $333,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is currently 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.