AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Holdings Decreased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,350 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $926,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 50,580 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 7.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,860,954 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $319,082,000 after buying an additional 209,359 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 16,440 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 101,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 34,794 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.77, for a total transaction of $176,770.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,181,165.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Melissa Ann Brown sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.77, for a total transaction of $176,770.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,181,165.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,913 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.00, for a total value of $350,079.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,310. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AVAV. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $161.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on AeroVironment from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.20.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVAV opened at $149.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 4.66. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.68 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.71. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.24 and a 52 week high of $184.61.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $186.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.62 million. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 15.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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.