Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Shares Down 4.9% – Here’s Why

Shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) fell 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $39.05 and last traded at $38.74. 214,215 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 583,564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research lowered Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.50.

Vericel Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.67 and a beta of 1.17.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $67.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 million. Vericel had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 4.30%. Vericel’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in Vericel by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,941,000 after purchasing an additional 169,971 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 108.5% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 23,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 72.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,903 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Vericel by 0.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 268,983 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,465,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in Vericel during the third quarter worth $625,000.

Vericel Company Profile

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.