Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

VCEL has been the topic of several other reports. BTIG Research reduced their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Stephens lifted their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on Vericel in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.71.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL stock opened at $56.78 on Friday. Vericel has a fifty-two week low of $32.31 and a fifty-two week high of $57.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 946.49 and a beta of 1.66.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. On average, equities analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven C. Gilman sold 5,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.35, for a total transaction of $235,361.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $443,850. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Vericel news, Director Steven C. Gilman sold 5,833 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.35, for a total transaction of $235,361.55. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $443,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total transaction of $724,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,142,373.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,166 shares of company stock valued at $1,200,764 over the last 90 days. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Vericel by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,413,442 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $177,567,000 after purchasing an additional 39,349 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 1.7% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,700,000 after purchasing an additional 34,360 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $54,575,000 after acquiring an additional 351,550 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,660,000 after buying an additional 420,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Vericel by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,590,000 after purchasing an additional 47,108 shares during the period.

Vericel Company 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.