First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 767.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,632 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Vericel were worth $1,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Vericel by 22.5% in 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 buying an additional 290,795 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 120,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,868,000 after acquiring an additional 48,056 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the 4th quarter worth about $1,819,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 2,152.6% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 45,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 43,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 187,616 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,756,000 after purchasing an additional 18,002 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.40.

Vericel Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $45.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.94 and a beta of 1.06. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $49.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.67.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.07. Vericel had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The company had revenue of $77.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.01) earnings per share. Vericel’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vericel

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider directly owned 75,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,408,885. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $220,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,714.20. This represents a 80.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,232 shares of company stock worth $2,304,217. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

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.