AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Short Interest Update

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) saw a large decrease in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,290,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the October 31st total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 363,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 878 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.54, for a total value of $184,854.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,658,343.04. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AeroVironment

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVAV. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 132.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $275,367,000 after acquiring an additional 861,962 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 19,950.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 267,066 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $53,547,000 after purchasing an additional 265,734 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in AeroVironment by 155.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 321,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,457,000 after purchasing an additional 195,443 shares during the period. Heard Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. Heard Capital LLC now owns 592,136 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $118,723,000 after buying an additional 120,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 180,824 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $36,255,000 after buying an additional 94,062 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AeroVironment Trading Up 4.5 %

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $203.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.39 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.29. AeroVironment has a 12-month low of $116.51 and a 12-month high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $189.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVAV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Baird R W upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.83.

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.