Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.75.

VCEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BTIG Research lowered their price target on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, August 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $43.89 on Thursday. Vericel has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $54.10. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -4,384.62 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.49.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). Vericel had a net margin of 0.37% and a return on equity of 0.35%. The business had revenue of $52.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.11) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 1,474 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $67,568.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,324.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Vericel news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 1,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $67,568.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,324.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $721,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,791 shares of company stock valued at $3,101,269 over the last 90 days. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 9.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 86.1% during the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 89,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,656,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,866 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 406 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.