Comerica Bank Reduces Stock Holdings in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Comerica Bank lowered its position in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,877 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,733 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Vericel were worth $8,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VCEL. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 9,209 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 750,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,211,000 after acquiring an additional 56,499 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,609 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 34,705 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 6,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at $405,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCEL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on Vericel from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.40.

Vericel Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $35.89 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.76. Vericel Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.09 and a twelve month high of $63.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 299.11 and a beta of 1.27.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 2.85%.The firm had revenue of $63.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Vericel Profile

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.