Swiss National Bank Reduces Stake in Artivion, Inc. $AORT

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of Artivion worth $1,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AORT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Artivion by 5.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 376,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,243,000 after purchasing an additional 17,860 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Artivion by 16.4% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Artivion in the first quarter valued at $3,261,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Artivion by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 14,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Artivion by 109.3% during the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Mackin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.32, for a total value of $529,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 852,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,089,776.56. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marshall S. Stanton sold 26,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.44, for a total value of $743,194.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 79,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,448. This represents a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,538 shares of company stock valued at $3,444,651 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Artivion from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Artivion in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Artivion from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Artivion from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Artivion from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $38.80 in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.63.

Artivion Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of Artivion stock opened at $44.8140 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.83. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.97 and a 12-month high of $45.07. The company has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.70 and a beta of 1.64.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $112.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.96 million. Artivion had a negative net margin of 4.43% and a positive return on equity of 5.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Artivion has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Artivion, Inc. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.