Stephens Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Stephens in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $67.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 61.45% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on VCEL. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.14.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $41.50 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.44. Vericel has a fifty-two week low of $37.39 and a fifty-two week high of $63.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 1,383.79 and a beta of 1.33.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.14). Vericel had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 1.25%. The business had revenue of $52.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. Vericel’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $1,040,966.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,354 shares in the company, valued at $10,906,229.06. The trade was a 8.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Vericel by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,357 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Vericel by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,952 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Vericel by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,111 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Vericel by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Vericel by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 13,803 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter.

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.