StockNews.com Upgrades Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) to Hold

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VCEL. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.14.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $57.31 on Tuesday. Vericel has a 1 year low of $32.31 and a 1 year high of $61.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 955.33 and a beta of 1.70.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $57.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.32 million. Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,700. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total transaction of $724,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,937 shares in the company, valued at $9,142,373.06. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,266 shares of company stock valued at $2,090,636. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VCEL. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,372,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,251,000 after purchasing an additional 22,461 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Vericel by 1.7% during the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,700,000 after buying an additional 34,360 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,575,000 after buying an additional 351,550 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,154,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,768,000 after buying an additional 9,613 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,660,000 after acquiring an additional 420,078 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.