115,630 Shares in Vericel Corporation $VCEL Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 115,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,144,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.23% of Vericel as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Vericel in the 2nd quarter valued at about $360,023,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vericel in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,662,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Vericel during the second quarter valued at approximately $24,463,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Vericel by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $56,931,000 after purchasing an additional 290,795 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VCEL. TD Cowen raised their target price on Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings raised Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.40.

Insider Transactions at Vericel

In related news, CFO Joseph Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total transaction of $223,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,009 shares in the company, valued at $716,402.75. The trade was a 23.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $220,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,714.20. The trade was a 80.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,232 shares of company stock worth $2,304,217. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $40.47 on Friday. Vericel Corporation has a one year low of $28.95 and a one year high of $49.32. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.11 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.50.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $77.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.70 million. Vericel had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

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.