Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Buys 95,202 Shares of Artivion, Inc. $AORT

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in Artivion by 31.0%, acquiring an additional 95,202 shares in the first quarter, raising its holdings to a total of 401,904 shares valued at approximately $9.88 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Millennium Management and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have also increased their stakes in Artivion, reflecting a trend of institutional investment in the company.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Artivion, with an average target price now at $39.80 and most analysts rating the stock as a "buy," indicating positive market expectations.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT - Free Report) by 31.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 401,904 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 95,202 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.94% of Artivion worth $9,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AORT. Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Artivion during the first quarter worth $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Artivion by 109.3% in the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Artivion in the fourth quarter valued at $64,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Artivion in the fourth quarter worth about $275,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Artivion by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,615 shares of the company's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.37% of the company's stock.

Artivion Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE AORT traded up $0.4310 on Thursday, reaching $43.4510. 140,688 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 442,814. Artivion, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.97 and a 12 month high of $43.97. 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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $33.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.69. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.23 and a beta of 1.64.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Artivion had a negative net margin of 4.43% and a positive return on equity of 5.70%. The firm had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.96 million. Artivion's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Artivion has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Artivion, Inc. will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Artivion

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AORT. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Artivion in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Artivion from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Artivion from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Artivion to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Artivion from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Artivion has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $39.80.

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.