Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 16.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 343,692 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 66,796 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.71% of Vericel worth $15,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel in the 1st quarter valued at about $595,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 99.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 111,760 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,814,000 after acquiring an additional 55,796 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,021,695 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $53,149,000 after acquiring an additional 100,797 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,538,000. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 679,165 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,330,000 after acquiring an additional 206,202 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VCEL. Truist Financial raised their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stephens increased their price objective on Vericel from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Vericel from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total value of $772,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,739,578.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $721,800. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total value of $772,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,739,578.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 63,791 shares of company stock worth $3,101,269. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL opened at $47.97 on Thursday. Vericel Co. has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $54.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,797.00 and a beta of 1.70.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). Vericel had a return on equity of 0.35% and a net margin of 0.37%. The business had revenue of $52.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.11) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vericel Co. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Vericel Profile

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.