Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.1143.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Artivion from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Artivion from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on Artivion from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Artivion in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Artivion in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at Artivion

In other Artivion news, SVP Marshall S. Stanton sold 47,376 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.04, for a total value of $2,133,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 44,753 shares in the company, valued at $2,015,675.12. This trade represents a 51.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John E. Davis sold 6,563 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.86, for a total value of $300,979.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 198,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,118,894.12. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 234,511 shares of company stock valued at $10,612,452 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artivion

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Artivion by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,029,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,250,000 after buying an additional 232,424 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Artivion by 4.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,727,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,460,000 after acquiring an additional 67,327 shares in the last quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC grew its holdings in Artivion by 107.6% in the first quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 1,022,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,140,000 after purchasing an additional 530,122 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Artivion by 22.8% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 645,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,062,000 after purchasing an additional 119,634 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Artivion by 40.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 481,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,960,000 after purchasing an additional 139,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.37% of the company’s stock.

Artivion Price Performance

Shares of Artivion stock opened at $47.18 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.06. Artivion has a 12-month low of $21.97 and a 12-month high of $48.25. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of -196.58 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.88, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $113.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.71 million. Artivion had a negative net margin of 2.16% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Artivion will post 0.37 EPS for the current 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.