E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Sells 750 Shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. cut its position in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,683 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 750 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Vericel were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $136,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Vericel by 8.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,582 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vericel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VCEL. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.80.

Vericel Stock Up 2.0 %

Vericel stock opened at $48.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -540.56 and a beta of 1.74. Vericel Co. has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $53.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $51.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.07 million. Vericel had a negative return on equity of 1.55% and a negative net margin of 1.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. Research analysts expect that Vericel Co. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total value of $780,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,708,739.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,708,739.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $169,046.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,480.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,267 shares of company stock worth $2,450,996 in the last ninety days. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns.