Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Monday.

VCEL has been the subject of several other research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.86.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $42.30 on Monday. Vericel has a one year low of $37.39 and a one year high of $63.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 705.12 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $1,040,966.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,354 shares in the company, valued at $10,906,229.06. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCEL. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Vericel by 119.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,288,921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,775,000 after acquiring an additional 701,064 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel in the 4th quarter worth about $34,233,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vericel in the 4th quarter worth about $28,126,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,100,000 after buying an additional 501,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,365,744 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $60,939,000 after buying an additional 265,956 shares during the last quarter.

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.