Artivion (NYSE:AORT) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Sunday.

AORT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Artivion from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Artivion to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Artivion from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up from $32.00) on shares of Artivion in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Artivion in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Artivion Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of AORT opened at $42.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -101.86 and a beta of 1.64. Artivion has a 12-month low of $21.97 and a 12-month high of $43.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $32.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.43. The company has a current ratio of 4.78, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Artivion will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John E. Davis sold 10,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $471,723.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 208,778 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,335.26. This represents a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 23,356 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total value of $1,004,541.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 172,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,403,268.29. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,564 shares of company stock worth $3,277,527 over the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AORT. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 165,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,731,000 after buying an additional 33,220 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 20,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 206,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,083,000 after buying an additional 4,749 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 160,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,597,000 after buying an additional 62,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 36,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 11,501 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.