Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.40.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Artivion in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Artivion to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Artivion in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Artivion from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Artivion Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:AORT opened at $28.98 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Artivion has a 12 month low of $21.97 and a 12 month high of $32.33. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -1,449.00 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.22.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.06). Artivion had a positive return on equity of 5.15% and a negative net margin of 0.22%. The company had revenue of $98.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.81 million. Research analysts forecast that Artivion will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Lance A. Berry sold 3,259 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.31, for a total transaction of $89,003.29. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,070,234.55. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John E. Davis sold 6,457 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.31, for a total transaction of $176,340.67. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 160,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,386,832.61. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,799 shares of company stock valued at $2,356,223 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Artivion by 346.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 70,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 54,996 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Artivion by 394.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 97,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,606,000 after purchasing an additional 78,120 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Artivion by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 63,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 33,541 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Artivion by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Artivion by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.37% of the company’s stock.

About Artivion

Artivion, Inc manufactures, processes, and distributes medical devices and implantable human tissues worldwide. The company provides BioGlue, a polymer consisting of bovine blood protein and an agent for cross-linking proteins for cardiac, vascular, neurologic, and pulmonary procedures; cardiac preservation services; PhotoFix, a bovine pericardial patch; and aortic arch stent grafts including E-vita Open Plus and E-vita Open Neo.