Artivion (NYSE:AORT) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Artivion has been upgraded to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating positive sentiment from analysts regarding the company's stock performance.
• Multiple research firms have raised their price targets for Artivion, with Needham & Company boosting theirs from $45.00 to $50.00, reflecting growing confidence in the stock's potential.
• Artivion reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.24 compared to analysts' estimates of $0.11, indicating strong financial performance and a year-over-year revenue increase of 15.3%.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other research firms have also commented on AORT. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Artivion from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Artivion to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. 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 research note on Friday, August 8th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered 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 research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Artivion from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $40.63.

Artivion Trading Up 0.1%

AORT traded up $0.06 on Monday, reaching $43.87. 342,981 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 627,565. Artivion has a one year low of $21.97 and a one year high of $45.07. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 4.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -104.45 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.31.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.13. Artivion had a negative net margin of 4.43% and a positive return on equity of 5.70%. The business had revenue of $112.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.96 million. The company'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, equities research analysts expect that Artivion will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artivion

In other news, insider John E. Davis sold 10,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $471,723.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 208,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,117,335.26. This represents a 4.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James P. Mackin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, 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. Insiders sold 115,990 shares of company stock valued at $4,435,823 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artivion

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AORT. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Artivion in the second quarter valued at about $664,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Artivion by 20.4% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 33,366 shares of the company's stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 5,654 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Artivion by 9.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 130,981 shares of the company's stock worth $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 11,331 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Artivion by 7.3% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 33,165 shares of the company's stock worth $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Artivion by 447.6% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,410 shares of the company's stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 4,422 shares during the last quarter. 86.37% of the stock is currently 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.