JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 62,893 Shares of Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT - Free Report) by 64.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,796 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,893 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.38% of Artivion worth $4,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artivion by 236.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Artivion in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new position in shares of Artivion during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Artivion during the 4th quarter valued at about $78,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Artivion by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the company's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jean F. Holloway sold 18,020 shares of Artivion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total transaction of $425,452.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 197,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,655,514.24. This trade represents a 8.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lance A. Berry sold 3,259 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.31, for a total value of $89,003.29. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,070,234.55. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 90,799 shares of company stock valued at $2,356,223. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Artivion Price Performance

AORT stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $24.01. 14,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,884. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of -1,200.25 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.30. Artivion, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.36 and a 52 week high of $32.33.

Artivion (NYSE:AORT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.51). Artivion had a positive return on equity of 5.15% and a negative net margin of 0.22%. The firm had revenue of $97.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.82 million. As a group, analysts expect that Artivion, Inc. will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AORT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Artivion from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Artivion from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $31.40.

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.