Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Trading Down 5.9% – What’s Next?

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL)’s stock price fell 5.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $44.89 and last traded at $44.6650. 204,923 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 612,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VCEL. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Vericel Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.05 and its 200 day moving average is $36.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.24 and a beta of 1.07.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The firm had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In related news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $603,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,225.87. This trade represents a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,408,885. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,732 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,167. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position 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 in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $56,931,000 after purchasing an additional 290,795 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 133.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 497,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,903,000 after purchasing an additional 284,305 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,409,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 20,888.4% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 256,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,258,000 after purchasing an additional 255,465 shares during 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.