Wall Street Zen Upgrades Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) to Buy

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Vericel from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.50.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $46.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 111.05 and a beta of 1.07. Vericel has a 52 week low of $28.95 and a 52 week high of $48.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.82.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $68.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.68 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.64, for a total transaction of $684,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,169.08. The trade was a 90.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,408,885. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 47,732 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,167 in the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,060,000 after buying an additional 68,368 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vericel by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after acquiring an additional 356,680 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 9.3% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,312 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,245,000 after acquiring an additional 208,750 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,018,000 after acquiring an additional 11,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in Vericel by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,941,000 after acquiring an additional 169,971 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Company Profile

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.