AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Short Interest Up 37.5% in August

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,290,000 shares, an increase of 37.5% from the August 15th total of 938,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 372,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVAV has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of 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. BTIG Research started coverage on AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price for the company. Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AeroVironment presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,807,052.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total value of $1,669,792.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,904,723.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.45, for a total transaction of $91,187.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 21,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,807,052.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,928,305 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AeroVironment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 132.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $275,367,000 after purchasing an additional 861,962 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,376,000 after purchasing an additional 179,395 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 221,749 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,949,000 after purchasing an additional 144,628 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its position in AeroVironment by 756.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 102,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $12,876,000 after buying an additional 90,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,784,000. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AVAV traded up $6.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $192.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 208,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 338,059. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of 86.54 and a beta of 0.50. AeroVironment has a fifty-two week low of $104.67 and a fifty-two week high of $224.00.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 9.87% and a net margin of 7.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AeroVironment will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

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.