Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Artivion (NYSE:AORT)

Artivion (NYSE:AORT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $32.00. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.52% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Artivion in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Artivion to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Artivion in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Artivion currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Artivion Trading Up 5.1%

Artivion stock traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,637,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,399. Artivion has a 1 year low of $21.97 and a 1 year high of $43.50. The company has a current ratio of 4.78, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 97.50 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.07.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.96 million. Artivion had a negative net margin of 4.43% and a positive return on equity of 5.70%. Artivion’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Artivion will post 0.37 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Marshall S. Stanton sold 26,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.44, for a total transaction of $743,194.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,448. The trade was a 24.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 9,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $287,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 187,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,430,482. The trade was a 5.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,406 shares of company stock valued at $1,801,262. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artivion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Artivion during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Artivion by 109.3% during the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Artivion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,000. James Investment Research Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Artivion in the second quarter worth $210,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Artivion in the second quarter valued at $244,000. 86.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artivion Company Profile

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.