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

Key Points

• Artivion (NYSE:AORT) has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, despite having multiple other firms maintain or upgrade their ratings.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting earnings of $0.24 per share and a revenue of $112.97 million, which was a 15.3% increase from the same quarter last year.
• Insider selling activity has been noted, with key executives offloading a significant number of shares recently, indicating possible shifts in executive confidence in the company's stock.

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday.

AORT has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Artivion from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Artivion in a report on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Artivion from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Artivion from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $38.80 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Artivion from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, Artivion has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $39.80.

Artivion Price Performance

AORT stock traded down $0.0550 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.9650. 14,298 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 442,054. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -102.43 and a beta of 1.64. Artivion has a 52-week low of $21.97 and a 52-week high of $43.97. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $33.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 4.78.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. As a group, analysts predict that Artivion will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 23,356 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total value of $1,004,541.56. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 172,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,403,268.29. This represents a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Mackin sold 12,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.32, for a total transaction of $529,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 852,783 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,089,776.56. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 99,138 shares of company stock valued at $3,518,673. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artivion

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AORT. Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Artivion during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Artivion by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Artivion during the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Artivion by 447.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,410 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 4,422 shares in the last quarter. 86.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.