Marshall S. Stanton Sells 26,132 Shares of Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) Stock

Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) SVP Marshall S. Stanton sold 26,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.44, for a total transaction of $743,194.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 79,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,448. The trade was a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Artivion Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of Artivion stock opened at $29.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of -59.54 and a beta of 1.62. Artivion, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.97 and a twelve month high of $32.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.46. The company has a current ratio of 5.53, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $98.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.81 million. Artivion had a negative net margin of 5.49% and a positive return on equity of 3.63%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Artivion, Inc. will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Artivion by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Artivion by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 20,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Artivion by 109.3% in the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Artivion by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Artivion by 236.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. 86.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AORT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on shares of Artivion in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Artivion from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Artivion to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Artivion in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Artivion in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

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.