Artivion (NYSE:AORT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $30.00. The stock had previously closed at $24.75, but opened at $25.52. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Artivion shares last traded at $25.12, with a volume of 6,973 shares.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Artivion from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Artivion in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Artivion from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Artivion news, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 3,167 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 161,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,299,294.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Anthony B. Semedo sold 9,709 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 3,167 shares of the business’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 approximately $4,299,294.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock worth $626,518 over the last 90 days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artivion

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AORT. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Artivion by 108.8% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,083,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,928,000 after purchasing an additional 564,549 shares during the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Artivion by 4.7% during the second quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 2,793,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,658,000 after buying an additional 124,725 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Artivion by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,686,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,156,000 after buying an additional 80,214 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Artivion by 8.1% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 570,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,066,000 after buying an additional 42,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Artivion by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,664,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,388,000 after acquiring an additional 33,982 shares during the period. 86.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artivion Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -105.21 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 5.63, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.44.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $98.02 million for 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Artivion, Inc. will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

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.