Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stock Holdings in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 36.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,830 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 116,509 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.40% of Vericel worth $6,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 135.6% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,332 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,882 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 2.9% during the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 35,711 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 11.1% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Vericel by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,798 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period.

Vericel Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $36.19 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.28. Vericel Corporation has a twelve month low of $29.24 and a twelve month high of $59.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 150.80 and a beta of 1.24.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.12. Vericel had a return on equity of 4.30% and a net margin of 5.06%.The company had revenue of $67.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.02) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research downgraded Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.50.

Vericel Profile

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company’s expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.