Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 209,359 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,860,954 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 209,359 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.17% of AeroVironment worth $319,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in AeroVironment by 1.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,468,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $457,013,000 after purchasing an additional 50,580 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in AeroVironment by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,430,804 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $119,272,000 after purchasing an additional 16,440 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in AeroVironment by 13.6% during the second quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 846,708 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $86,601,000 after purchasing an additional 101,681 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in AeroVironment by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 759,638 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $65,071,000 after purchasing an additional 34,794 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AeroVironment by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 699,402 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $65,842,000 after acquiring an additional 6,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,181,165.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other AeroVironment news, VP Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,913 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 approximately $470,310. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVAV has been the topic of several recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AVAV opened at $149.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $135.51 and a 200 day moving average of $125.94. AeroVironment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.24 and a fifty-two week high of $184.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 4.66.

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

AeroVironment Profile

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.