Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 13,209 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Vericel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 175.4% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Vericel in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000.

Insider Activity

In other Vericel news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $603,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,225.87. This trade represents a 90.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,408,885. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 52,232 shares of company stock worth $2,304,217 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Vericel Stock Performance

Vericel stock opened at $40.95 on Friday. Vericel Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.95 and a 52-week high of $49.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.13 and a beta of 1.06.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.07. Vericel had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The company had revenue of $77.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.01) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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.