Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.40.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VCEL. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $47.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -531.94 and a beta of 1.74. Vericel has a 1-year low of $30.18 and a 1-year high of $53.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.18.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total value of $367,852.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total value of $367,852.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,708,739.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,267 shares of company stock worth $2,450,996. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the first quarter worth approximately $590,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 99.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 111,760 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,814,000 after purchasing an additional 55,796 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 7.1% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the first quarter worth approximately $244,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 61.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 410,488 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,354,000 after purchasing an additional 155,871 shares during the period.

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.