James Investment Research Inc. Invests $485,000 in AeroVironment, Inc. $AVAV

James Investment Research Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,702 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AeroVironment during the 2nd quarter worth $314,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 10,494 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,990,000 after purchasing an additional 3,842 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 4,285 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 117 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AeroVironment by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,181 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,165,000 after purchasing an additional 4,869 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVAV opened at $379.93 on Wednesday. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.25 and a 1 year high of $417.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $307.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.25. The company has a current ratio of 5.96, a quick ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.97 billion, a PE ratio of -593.63, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.99.

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 negative net margin of 4.14% and a positive return on equity of 4.67%. The business had revenue of $132.62 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AeroVironment news, insider Trace E. Stevenson sold 1,717 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $654,177.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 4,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,869,567. This represents a 25.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $399.74, for a total transaction of $398,940.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AVAV. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $300.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AeroVironment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. New Street Research set a $365.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $295.00 to $389.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $356.07.

AeroVironment 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.