Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.50.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 2,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.90, for a total transaction of $122,666.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 886 shares in the company, valued at $39,781.40. This trade represents a 75.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,408,885. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,732 shares of company stock worth $2,084,167. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Vericel by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,931,000 after buying an additional 290,795 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Vericel by 133.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 497,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,903,000 after buying an additional 284,305 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the third quarter worth $8,409,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 20,888.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 256,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,258,000 after buying an additional 255,465 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Stock Performance

Vericel stock traded down $1.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.00. 451,851 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 673,907. Vericel has a 52 week low of $28.95 and a 52 week high of $48.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.91 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.49.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vericel

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.