Brokerages Set Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) PT at $61.14

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.14.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $1,040,966.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,354 shares in the company, valued at $10,906,229.06. This trade represents a 8.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new position in shares of Vericel in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 4th quarter worth about $57,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 511.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Vericel by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,357 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,895 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ VCEL opened at $42.67 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 711.29 and a beta of 1.33. Vericel has a 52 week low of $37.39 and a 52 week high of $63.00.

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

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.