Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Artivion (NYSE:AORT)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reaffirmed a "Buy" rating for Artivion (NYSE:AORT) and increased the target price from $32.00 to $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 37.26% from the current price.
• Artivion recently reported earnings of $0.24 per share for the quarter, outperforming analysts' expectations of $0.11 per share, with revenue up 15.3% year-over-year.
• Insiders have sold a total of 62,406 shares in the last 90 days, representing a decrease in their ownership, while institutional investors own 86.37% of the company's stock.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $45.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $32.00. Needham & Company LLC's price objective indicates a potential upside of 37.26% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Artivion to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Artivion in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Artivion in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Artivion presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $35.00.

Artivion Trading Up 1.6%

AORT opened at $32.78 on Friday. Artivion has a fifty-two week low of $21.97 and a fifty-two week high of $33.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of -65.57 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 5.53 and a quick ratio of 3.95. The company's 50-day moving average is $30.55 and its 200 day moving average is $27.96.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.13. Artivion had a positive return on equity of 3.63% and a negative net margin of 5.49%. The business had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $107.96 million. Artivion's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Artivion will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Artivion news, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 9,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $287,854.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 187,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,430,482. This represents a 5.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Marshall S. Stanton sold 26,132 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.44, for a total value of $743,194.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 79,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,252,448. This trade represents a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,406 shares of company stock valued at $1,801,262 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Artivion during the fourth quarter valued at $275,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Artivion by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,623 shares of the company's stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Artivion by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 160,796 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,597,000 after acquiring an additional 62,893 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Artivion during the 4th quarter valued at about $288,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Artivion by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,707 shares of the company's stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.37% of the company's stock.

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.

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