Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 23,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vericel in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $242,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vericel by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vericel by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 371,486 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,576,000 after acquiring an additional 44,333 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 9.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 123,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,490,000 after purchasing an additional 10,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in Vericel by 5.1% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 277,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,797,000 after purchasing an additional 13,422 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on VCEL shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.64, for a total transaction of $684,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,169.08. The trade was a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $220,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,714.20. This represents a 80.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 52,232 shares of company stock valued at $2,304,217 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $44.20 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.04 and a beta of 1.06. Vericel Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.95 and a twelve month high of $49.32.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.07. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 7.91%.The business had revenue of $77.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.01) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.