Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Shares Acquired by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,968 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.12% of Vericel worth $1,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 8.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,582 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 3.6% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 15,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Vericel by 4.9% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,823 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 0.5% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 145,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,868,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Vericel by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 26,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at $8,708,739.13. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was 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 $8,708,739.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total value of $367,852.95. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,267 shares of company stock worth $2,450,996 over the last ninety days. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VCEL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet raised Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.80.

Vericel Stock Performance

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $48.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -4,818.18 and a beta of 1.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.74. Vericel Co. has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $53.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $51.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.07 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 0.21% and a net margin of 0.22%. Vericel’s revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Vericel Co. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.