AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Given Outperform Rating at William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) in a report published on Wednesday morning,RTT News reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AVAV. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AeroVironment from $220.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $202.40.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

AVAV opened at $135.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 4.61 and a quick ratio of 3.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.37. AeroVironment has a 1-year low of $110.07 and a 1-year high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $188.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.80 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.12%. AeroVironment’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AeroVironment will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVAV. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 120.2% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 185 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Colonial Trust Advisors purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

About AeroVironment

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.