William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $69.58 Million Stock Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 90.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,048,864 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $69,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Vericel by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vericel in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Vericel by 101.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in Vericel during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Vericel by 13.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VCEL shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vericel currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.50.

Vericel Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of VCEL opened at $35.68 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.11 and a 200 day moving average of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.10 and a beta of 1.22. Vericel Corporation has a 12 month low of $29.24 and a 12 month high of $52.06.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. Vericel had a return on equity of 5.17% and a net margin of 5.98%.The firm had revenue of $92.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Vericel 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.