Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. Sells 5,000 Shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Stock

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total transaction of $223,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 16,009 shares in the company, valued at $716,402.75. This trade represents a 23.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Vericel Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $45.15 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.95. Vericel Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.95 and a 12-month high of $46.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.50 and a beta of 1.06.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The company had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.68 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,060,000 after acquiring an additional 68,368 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,312 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,245,000 after purchasing an additional 208,750 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,018,000 after purchasing an additional 11,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,250,000 after purchasing an additional 161,378 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.50.

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.