Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Shares Acquired by State of Wyoming

State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Vericel were worth $552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VCEL. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Vericel by 119.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,288,921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,775,000 after buying an additional 701,064 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Vericel during the fourth quarter worth about $34,233,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Vericel during the fourth quarter worth about $28,126,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,100,000 after acquiring an additional 501,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Vericel by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,122,373 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,630,000 after acquiring an additional 227,675 shares during the last quarter.

Vericel Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $42.48 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 708.12 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.18. Vericel Co. has a 12-month low of $37.39 and a 12-month high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $52.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.86 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Vericel Co. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 26,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.78, for a total value of $1,217,381.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 259,997 shares in the company, valued at $11,902,662.66. This trade represents a 9.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VCEL. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.86.

Vericel Company 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.