Stiles Financial Services Inc Purchases New Stake in AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

Key Points

• Stiles Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in AeroVironment, Inc., purchasing 735 shares valued at approximately $209,000.
• A number of analysts have rated AeroVironment with strong positive outlooks, including upgrades from firms like Citigroup and Bank of America, with price targets reaching as high as $400.00.
• AeroVironment's stock has seen significant interest from institutional investors, who currently own 86.38% of the company's shares.

Stiles Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 735 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 48.2% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 902,814 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $107,606,000 after buying an additional 293,553 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 41.0% during the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 763,489 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $91,000,000 after buying an additional 221,948 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 7.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 456,486 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $54,409,000 after buying an additional 33,169 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 281.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 430,307 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $51,288,000 after buying an additional 317,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AeroVironment by 6.7% during the first quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 281,323 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $33,531,000 after buying an additional 17,696 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AVAV shares. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, New Street Research set a $365.00 price objective on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $356.07.

AeroVironment Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ AVAV opened at $392.29 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $277.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.72. AeroVironment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.25 and a twelve month high of $417.86. The company has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -612.94, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 5.12, a current ratio of 5.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 28th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $132.62 million for the quarter. AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 4.67% and a negative net margin of 4.14%. Research analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 17,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.05, for a total transaction of $4,550,765.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,153,390.65. The trade was a 12.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.