Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,722 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,795 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Vericel were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VCEL. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 59.5% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 855,207 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,667,000 after buying an additional 318,916 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 61,063.9% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 208,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after buying an additional 208,228 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 39.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 571,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,150,000 after purchasing an additional 161,652 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 35.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 540,209 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,108,000 after purchasing an additional 141,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA purchased a new stake in Vericel during the third quarter worth $4,048,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Vericel from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.40.

Vericel Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $46.05 on Friday. Vericel Co. has a 52-week low of $30.16 and a 52-week high of $53.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -511.61 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Insider Activity at Vericel

In related news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $169,046.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $169,046.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.22, for a total value of $101,706.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,034,526.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,567 shares of company stock worth $2,552,702. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.