AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Short Interest Up 7.0% in September

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,380,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the August 31st total of 1,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 367,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.20.

Insider Activity at AeroVironment

In related news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AeroVironment news, CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 9,867 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.23, for a total value of $1,669,792.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,904,723.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of AeroVironment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at $3,581,799.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,776 shares of company stock worth $1,837,117. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 1.5% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,609 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 0.6% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 17,667 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,708,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 8.8% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 1,268 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in AeroVironment by 7.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,920 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Price Performance

Shares of AVAV opened at $211.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 95.09 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.53. AeroVironment has a fifty-two week low of $104.67 and a fifty-two week high of $224.00.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.28. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. The firm had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. AeroVironment’s revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that AeroVironment will post 3.29 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.