Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires Shares of 957 AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 957 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 237 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 0.6% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 8,023 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 60.3% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 117 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 296.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 99 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in AeroVironment by 2.7% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,199 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVAV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp started coverage on AeroVironment in a research note on Monday, August 4th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $325.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on AeroVironment from $267.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $325.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $356.07.

AeroVironment Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of AVAV stock opened at $314.68 on Thursday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.25 and a 12 month high of $417.86. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a PE ratio of -493.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $330.96 and a 200-day moving average of $257.88.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 28th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $132.62 million during the quarter. AeroVironment had a negative net margin of 4.14% and a positive return on equity of 4.67%. On average, equities analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $654,177.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,869,567. This represents a 25.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 513 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.46, for a total transaction of $170,038.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,235,094.06. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 3,228 shares of company stock worth $1,223,157 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.