Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on VCEL. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $61.14.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VCEL opened at $57.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.67 and a 200 day moving average of $48.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 961.33 and a beta of 1.71. Vericel has a one year low of $32.31 and a one year high of $61.49.

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

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other Vericel news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,595 shares in the company, valued at $1,595,700. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven C. Gilman sold 5,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.35, for a total value of $235,361.55. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,850. This represents a 34.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,266 shares of company stock valued at $2,090,636. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VCEL. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Vericel by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 587,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,837,000 after acquiring an additional 400,667 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 40.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 28,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 8,020 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel in the third quarter valued at approximately $563,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 4.6% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,590,000 after purchasing an additional 47,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scholtz & Company LLC purchased a new stake in Vericel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,357,000.

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.