Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Stock Price Down 4.9% – Here’s What Happened

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) traded down 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $39.05 and last traded at $38.74. 214,215 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 583,564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VCEL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. BTIG Research downgraded Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.50.

Vericel Stock Down 5.3%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.72. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.67 and a beta of 1.17.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $67.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 million. Vericel had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 4.30%. The company’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $104,826,000 after acquiring an additional 401,990 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Vericel by 90.3% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,864 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 9.0% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,250,000 after purchasing an additional 161,378 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,742,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $74,136,000 after purchasing an additional 265,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,240,389 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,786,000 after purchasing an additional 38,799 shares in the last quarter.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company’s expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.