AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Stock Price Up 3.8% – Should You Buy?

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shares rose 3.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $408.25 and last traded at $392.86. Approximately 2,018,381 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 1,902,616 shares. The stock had previously closed at $378.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AVAV. KeyCorp set a $285.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $325.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on AeroVironment from $486.00 to $429.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.41.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.29 and a current ratio of 5.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $283.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.07. The stock has a market cap of $19.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -314.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.16.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 9th. The aerospace company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.43). AeroVironment had a positive return on equity of 3.42% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The business had revenue of $472.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 150.7% on a year-over-year basis. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.400-3.550 EPS. Analysts forecast that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other news, Director Stephen F. Page sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.62, for a total value of $377,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 51,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,997.62. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Brian Charles Shackley sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.92, for a total transaction of $50,184.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,994 shares in the company, valued at $1,504,014.48. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,223 shares of company stock worth $1,092,503 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AeroVironment

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVAV. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AeroVironment by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,530,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,111,585,000 after buying an additional 51,959 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of AeroVironment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $314,890,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 686,273 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $216,101,000 after purchasing an additional 101,713 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AeroVironment by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 678,431 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $193,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 15.7% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 614,444 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $193,390,000 after purchasing an additional 83,322 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

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.