Hennessy Advisors Inc. Takes $15.05 Million Position in Astronics Corporation $ATRO

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 449,400 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,046,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 1.27% of Astronics as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Astronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Astronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Astronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $222,000. First Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Astronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Astronics by 26.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,486 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,377,000 after purchasing an additional 46,054 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Astronics news, insider James Mulato sold 1,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.16, for a total value of $43,082.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,066 shares in the company, valued at $40,678.56. This trade represents a 51.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 9.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ATRO. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Astronics in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Astronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Astronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Astronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

Astronics Stock Performance

Astronics stock opened at $47.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of -393.55 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 3.04 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Astronics Corporation has a 12 month low of $14.13 and a 12 month high of $47.50.

Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The aerospace company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $204.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.29 million. Astronics had a negative net margin of 0.45% and a positive return on equity of 22.89%. Research analysts expect that Astronics Corporation will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Astronics Profile

Astronics Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries in the United States, rest of North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Test Systems. The Aerospace segment offers lighting and safety systems, electrical power generation systems, distribution and seat motions systems, aircraft structures, avionics products, system certification, and other products.