Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Vericel from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.50.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $46.64 on Friday. Vericel has a 52-week low of $28.95 and a 52-week high of $48.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.05 and a beta of 1.07.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $68.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.68 million. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares in the company, valued at $3,408,885. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 2,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.90, for a total transaction of $122,666.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,781.40. The trade was a 75.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 47,732 shares of company stock worth $2,084,167 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Vericel by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after acquiring an additional 356,680 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,931,000 after purchasing an additional 290,795 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 133.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 497,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,903,000 after purchasing an additional 284,305 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,409,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Vericel by 20,888.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 256,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,258,000 after purchasing an additional 255,465 shares in the last quarter.

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.