HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.48% from the stock’s previous close. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Vericel’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.33 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $0.16 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.03 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.00 EPS and FY2029 earnings at $2.80 EPS.

VCEL has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.14.

Vericel Stock Performance

VCEL stock opened at $56.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 939.32 and a beta of 1.72. Vericel has a 52-week low of $37.35 and a 52-week high of $61.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.89.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul K. Wotton sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $152,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,045.44. This represents a 8.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total value of $587,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,427,545.12. This represents a 14.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,100 shares of company stock valued at $889,872 over the last ninety days. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in Vericel during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,826,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Vericel by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 158,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,873 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Vericel by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 661,018 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $30,329,000 after purchasing an additional 19,803 shares during the period. Finally, First Washington CORP grew its holdings in Vericel by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Washington CORP now owns 126,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after buying an additional 2,412 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.