AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Price Target Lowered to $146.00 at Robert W. Baird

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) had its price objective lowered by Robert W. Baird from $220.00 to $146.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AeroVironment presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $202.40.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AVAV opened at $135.69 on Wednesday. AeroVironment has a one year low of $110.07 and a one year high of $236.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 4.61 and a quick ratio of 3.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 0.42.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.29). AeroVironment had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.12%. The business had revenue of $188.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. AeroVironment’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,098,822 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $476,878,000 after purchasing an additional 35,543 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,135,280 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $328,598,000 after purchasing an additional 183,887 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 worth $317,366,000 after purchasing an additional 7,471 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 654,024 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $100,670,000 after purchasing an additional 19,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the fourth quarter worth $93,759,000. 86.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.