DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Invests $33,000 in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 927 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in Vericel by 1.9% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 17,510 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $658,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Vericel by 8.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,582 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 6.6% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 8,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 3.6% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 15,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its holdings in Vericel by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,025 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Vericel from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.40.

Insider Transactions at Vericel

In other news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total transaction of $169,046.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $169,046.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.85, for a total transaction of $334,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,083,705.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,267 shares of company stock worth $2,115,981. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Vericel Stock Performance

Vericel stock opened at $46.26 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -513.94 and a beta of 1.71. Vericel Co. has a one year low of $29.24 and a one year high of $53.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $65.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.28 million. Vericel had a negative net margin of 1.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vericel Co. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vericel

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.