Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Buys New Shares in AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVAV. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in AeroVironment by 49.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 677 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in AeroVironment by 5.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,302 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in AeroVironment by 4.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 198,288 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $23,634,000 after purchasing an additional 8,330 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in AeroVironment during the first quarter worth about $1,142,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in AeroVironment by 43.5% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,650 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 86.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AVAV stock opened at $378.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a current ratio of 5.96. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.25 and a 1 year high of $417.86. The firm has a market cap of $18.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -591.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $301.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.87.

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

Insider Transactions at AeroVironment

In other news, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $654,177.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,567. This trade represents a 25.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $399.74, for a total value of $398,940.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,724,575.76. This trade represents a 4.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on AeroVironment from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on AeroVironment from $295.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on AeroVironment from $300.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on AeroVironment from $325.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $356.07.

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.