Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) Stock Price Down 4.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) traded down 4.9% during trading on Wednesday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating. The company traded as low as $51.34 and last traded at $50.6140. 65,050 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 594,315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.24.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ATRO. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Astronics from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Astronics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Astronics in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Cowen initiated coverage on Astronics in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Astronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Insider Transactions at Astronics

In other news, insider James Mulato sold 1,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.16, for a total transaction of $43,082.64. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,066 shares in the company, valued at $40,678.56. This represents a 51.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 10.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Astronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Astronics in the 3rd quarter valued at $64,173,000. Luxor Capital Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of Astronics in the third quarter worth $52,698,000. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Astronics during the first quarter valued at $12,774,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Astronics during the second quarter worth about $15,046,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Astronics by 80.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 746,956 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $18,054,000 after buying an additional 332,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.68% of the company’s stock.

Astronics Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -569.77 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.87.

Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $211.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.80 million. Astronics had a positive return on equity of 29.65% and a negative net margin of 0.37%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Astronics Corporation will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Astronics

Astronics Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries in the United States, rest of North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Test Systems. The Aerospace segment offers lighting and safety systems, electrical power generation systems, distribution and seat motions systems, aircraft structures, avionics products, system certification, and other products.