Vericel Corporation $VCEL Shares Sold by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP lowered its stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 44.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 82,743 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP owned approximately 0.20% of Vericel worth $3,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,060,000 after buying an additional 68,368 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,254,562 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,187,000 after buying an additional 79,278 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,018,000 after buying an additional 11,178 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 9.0% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,250,000 after buying an additional 161,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,941,000 after buying an additional 169,971 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vericel

In related news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. The trade was a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $35.77 on Tuesday. Vericel Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.95 and a 1 year high of $45.97. The company has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.17 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.27 and a 200-day moving average of $35.70.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The company had revenue of $68.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.68 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCEL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.40.

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.