Independent Advisor Alliance Acquires New Stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,058 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Radnor Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 5,965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in AeroVironment by 1.5% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,609 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 23.1% during the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 400 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,434 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 394 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total value of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,799.88. This represents a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,782 shares of company stock worth $372,615 over the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Baird R W raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.83.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AVAV stock opened at $194.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.31 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $208.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.23. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 12-month low of $116.51 and a 12-month high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. AeroVironment’s revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share 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.