Artivion (NYSE:AORT) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Artivion (NYSE:AORT) in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $30.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AORT. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Artivion from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on Artivion from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Artivion from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Artivion Stock Performance

Shares of Artivion stock opened at $26.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -113.71 and a beta of 1.74. Artivion has a 1 year low of $12.16 and a 1 year high of $29.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 5.63.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $98.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.70 million. Artivion had a positive return on equity of 3.81% and a negative net margin of 2.22%. Equities analysts forecast that Artivion will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Artivion

In related news, Director Anthony B. Semedo sold 9,709 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $242,627.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $853,633.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Artivion news, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 3,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $84,083.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 161,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,299,294.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony B. Semedo sold 9,709 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total value of $242,627.91. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,159 shares in the company, valued at $853,633.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $626,518. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artivion

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Perceptive Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Artivion by 4.7% in the second quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 2,793,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,658,000 after acquiring an additional 124,725 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Artivion by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Artivion in the second quarter valued at about $366,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Artivion by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,239,000 after buying an additional 6,344 shares during the period. Finally, RW Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Artivion in the second quarter worth $219,000. 86.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.