Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 108.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,824 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,062 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.64% of AeroVironment worth $36,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,951,393 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $391,254,000 after buying an additional 439,717 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in AeroVironment by 126.3% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 2,754 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management purchased a new position in AeroVironment during the third quarter valued at $426,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 141.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 693 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Quarterback LLC raised its position in shares of AeroVironment by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 1,823 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $200.06 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $116.51 and a twelve month high of $236.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $206.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.21. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.92 and a beta of 0.49.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVAV has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James downgraded AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 508 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.65, for a total transaction of $110,058.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,868 shares in the company, valued at $3,654,452.20. This trade represents a 2.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,782 shares of company stock worth $372,615 over the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AeroVironment Company 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.