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 four segments: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Tactical Missile System (TMS), Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MUAS), and High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Systems (HAPS). The company supplies UAS, TMS, unmanned ground vehicle, and related services primarily to organizations within the U.S. Department of Defense and to international allied governments. It also designs, engineers, tools, and manufactures unmanned aerial and aircraft systems, including airborne platforms, payloads and payload integration, ground control systems, and ground support equipment and other items and services related to unmanned aircraft systems. In addition, the company offers small UAS products, including spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support, as well as multiple aircraft, hand-held ground control system, and spare parts and accessories. Further, it develops high-altitude pseudo-satellite UAS systems. The company was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have commented on AVAV. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AeroVironment from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 18th. Alembic Global Advisors raised AeroVironment from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on AeroVironment from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. Robert W. Baird cut AeroVironment from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on AeroVironment from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.00.
AeroVironment Price Performance
NASDAQ:AVAV traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $103.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 180,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 287,839. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of -575.13 and a beta of 0.50. AeroVironment has a fifty-two week low of $52.03 and a fifty-two week high of $114.11. The company's 50-day moving average is $85.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.64.
AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 28th. The aerospace company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.11). AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 5.11% and a negative net margin of 0.94%. The firm had revenue of $132.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. AeroVironment's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AeroVironment will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, Director Charles R. Holland sold 4,001 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.20, for a total value of $336,884.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 56,998 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,799,231.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Charles R. Holland sold 4,001 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.20, for a total value of $336,884.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 56,998 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,799,231.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles R. Holland sold 3,001 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.87, for a total transaction of $242,690.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 63,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,094,810. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.