Aquila Investment Management LLC Sells 7,000 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Aquila Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Aquila Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,376,000 after acquiring an additional 179,395 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of AeroVironment by 132.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,511,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $275,367,000 after purchasing an additional 861,962 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 221,749 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,949,000 after buying an additional 144,628 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust grew its stake in AeroVironment by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 158,968 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $28,958,000 after purchasing an additional 3,098 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in AeroVironment by 3.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,440 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $22,753,000 after buying an additional 5,433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total value of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at $3,581,799.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,787 shares of company stock worth $352,178. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James lowered AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Baird R W upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $208.20.

AeroVironment Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $216.48 on Wednesday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.28 and a 1-year high of $227.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 3.04. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.51 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $195.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.68.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.