Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Research Coverage Started at TD Cowen

Equities researchers at TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.82% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on VCEL. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.17.

Vericel Stock Performance

VCEL opened at $43.37 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of -4,332.67 and a beta of 1.74. Vericel has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $53.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $51.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.07 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 0.21% and a net margin of 0.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,708,739.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $169,046.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,708,739.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,278 shares of company stock worth $1,721,471. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Vericel by 98.5% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 226,015 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,048,000 after purchasing an additional 112,169 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Vericel by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 560,419 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,957,000 after acquiring an additional 97,952 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 472,963 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,842,000 after acquiring an additional 37,784 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vericel by 54.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 126,383 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after acquiring an additional 44,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 10,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 1,765 shares during 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.