Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 9,012 Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

Key Points

• Kornitzer Capital Management cut its stake in AeroVironment by 22.2% in Q4, selling 9,012 shares and leaving 31,618 shares worth about $7.65 million (≈0.06% of the company).
• Other institutional investors boosted positions — notably ARK (+28.9% to 400,457 shares) and Wealth Enhancement (+550.7% to 178,204 shares) — and institutional ownership stands at 86.38%.
• Analysts are mixed: the consensus is a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $318.78, but AeroVironment recently missed revenue and EPS estimates, trades with a negative P/E, and provided FY2026 EPS guidance of 2.75–3.10.

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS cut its stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,618 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 9,012 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned 0.06% of AeroVironment worth $7,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in AeroVironment by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 400,457 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $126,100,000 after acquiring an additional 89,697 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System bought a new position in AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,393,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in AeroVironment by 550.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 178,204 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $56,115,000 after acquiring an additional 150,819 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. bought a new position in AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,355,000. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. bought a new position in AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,787,000. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AeroVironment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. Clear Str upgraded shares of AeroVironment to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AeroVironment from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of AeroVironment from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $259.00 to $236.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $318.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, Director Stephen F. Page sold 250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.29, for a total value of $49,322.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 49,501 shares in the company, valued at $9,766,052.29. This trade represents a 0.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Brian Charles Shackley sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.52, for a total transaction of $42,504.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,340.88. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,975 shares of company stock worth $740,324 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

AeroVironment Price Performance

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $184.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 4.54 and a current ratio of 5.51. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $207.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $269.31. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.39 and a 52-week high of $417.86. The company has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of -42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.36.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The aerospace company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $408.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.94 million. AeroVironment had a negative net margin of 13.93% and a positive return on equity of 3.26%. AeroVironment's revenue for the quarter was up 143.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.750-3.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AeroVironment

AeroVironment, Inc NASDAQ: AVAV is a technology company specializing in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), tactical missiles and precision loitering munitions, electric vehicle charging and scalable energy systems. Headquartered in Monrovia, California, the company develops solutions for defense, public safety and commercial markets. Their offerings include small UAS for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as advanced weapons systems designed to meet the needs of modern military operations.

The company's unmanned aerial systems portfolio features platforms such as the Raven, Puma and Switchblade series, which are deployed by the U.S.

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