Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Purchases 9,640 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Key Points

• Cary Street Partners Financial LLC significantly increased its holdings in AeroVironment, Inc. by 247.5% in Q1, purchasing an additional 9,640 shares, bringing their total to 13,535 shares valued at approximately $1.61 million.
• Analysts have set optimistic price targets for AeroVironment, including a target of $335.00 from Cantor Fitzgerald, reflecting strong market confidence with a consensus rating of "Buy."
• The aerospace company reported $275.05 million in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and achieved an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.61, beating consensus expectations by $0.20.

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Free Report) by 247.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,535 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,640 shares during the quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC's holdings in AeroVironment were worth $1,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVAV. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 120.2% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 185 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in AeroVironment by 171.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 244 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors bought a new position in AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY acquired a new position in AeroVironment in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AVAV. Wall Street Zen raised AeroVironment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 22nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Monday. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $210.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $225.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $283.55.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 17,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.05, for a total value of $4,550,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 122,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,153,390.65. This represents a 12.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.27% of the company's stock.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AeroVironment stock traded down $12.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $247.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,093,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 836,524. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.19. The company has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.65 and a beta of 0.99. AeroVironment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.25 and a fifty-two week high of $295.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $275.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $242.69 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 5.32%. AeroVironment's revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

AeroVironment 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.