Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Acquires 120,013 Shares of Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 1,205.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 129,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,013 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $4,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 175.4% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 10,217 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC purchased a new stake in Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,285,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $121,520.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. The trade was a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL opened at $38.29 on Tuesday. Vericel Corporation has a one year low of $28.95 and a one year high of $43.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.17 and a beta of 1.12.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The firm had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VCEL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

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.