Cwm LLC Decreases Stock Position in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Key Points

• Cwm LLC reduced its stake in AeroVironment, Inc. by 89.6%, resulting in ownership of only 2,329 shares after selling 20,148 shares in the first quarter, now valued at approximately $278,000.
• Institutional investors hold 86.38% of AeroVironment's stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like Stephens Investment Management Group LLC and Vanguard Group Inc..
• AeroVironment's latest quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $1.61 earnings per share and revenue of $275.05 million for the quarter, a 39.6% year-over-year increase.

Cwm LLC lessened its stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Free Report) by 89.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,329 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 20,148 shares during the period. Cwm LLC's holdings in AeroVironment were worth $278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AeroVironment by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,098,822 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $476,878,000 after purchasing an additional 35,543 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 41.0% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 763,489 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $91,000,000 after purchasing an additional 221,948 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 654,024 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $100,670,000 after buying an additional 19,835 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in AeroVironment during the 4th quarter valued at $93,759,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 423,317 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $65,144,000 after buying an additional 10,693 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 17,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.05, for a total value of $4,550,765.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,153,390.65. This represents a 12.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AVAV shares. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Sunday, June 29th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised AeroVironment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Sunday, June 29th. KeyCorp started coverage on AeroVironment in a research report on Sunday, June 29th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on AeroVironment from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $268.00.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AeroVironment stock opened at $272.88 on Friday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.25 and a fifty-two week high of $295.90. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $218.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 176.05 and a beta of 0.96.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $275.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $242.69 million. AeroVironment had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm's revenue was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AeroVironment Company 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.

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