Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,179 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,690 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Vericel worth $2,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vericel by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,240,389 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,786,000 after buying an additional 38,799 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 62.5% in the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 997,291 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,435,000 after buying an additional 383,498 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 3.3% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 890,509 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,891,000 after acquiring an additional 28,178 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its position in Vericel by 12.6% during the third quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 836,861 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,336,000 after acquiring an additional 93,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC lifted its holdings in Vericel by 14.8% in the second quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 668,649 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,451,000 after acquiring an additional 86,114 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on VCEL. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Vericel from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vericel presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Vericel Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $34.96 on Thursday. Vericel Corporation has a 12 month low of $29.24 and a 12 month high of $51.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.77 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.10.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. The firm had revenue of $92.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.66 million. Vericel had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Vericel Company 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.