Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,981 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AeroVironment were worth $798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AVAV. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in AeroVironment in the 1st quarter valued at about $854,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AeroVironment by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,094,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,376,000 after buying an additional 179,395 shares in the last quarter. Natixis purchased a new stake in shares of AeroVironment during the 1st quarter valued at $924,000. Comerica Bank lifted its position in AeroVironment by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,991 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 6,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in AeroVironment by 37.1% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,636 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after buying an additional 3,958 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVAV. Baird R W raised AeroVironment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of AeroVironment in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James lowered AeroVironment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of AeroVironment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AeroVironment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other AeroVironment news, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total value of $77,703.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,799.88. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,782 shares of company stock valued at $372,615 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Price Performance

AeroVironment stock opened at $200.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.92 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $206.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.26. AeroVironment, Inc. has a 1 year low of $116.51 and a 1 year high of $236.60.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $189.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.18 million. AeroVironment had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 9.87%. AeroVironment’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.