Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 139,835 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.50% of AeroVironment worth $16,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVAV. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in AeroVironment by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 45,272 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $6,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,589 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in AeroVironment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $404,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in AeroVironment by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 198,975 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $30,620,000 after buying an additional 160,390 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AeroVironment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,502,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AeroVironment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,142,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVAV. Wall Street Zen raised AeroVironment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 22nd. KeyCorp began coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Sunday, June 29th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on AeroVironment from $146.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Monday, June 30th. They set a "buy" rating and a $301.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $265.22.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

Shares of AVAV stock traded up $26.23 on Friday, reaching $263.80. The stock had a trading volume of 4,244,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 582,489. The stock has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 170.19 and a beta of 0.96. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.25 and a 1 year high of $295.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.28.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $275.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $242.69 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 5.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current 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.