Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.14.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $57.04 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 950.83 and a beta of 1.70. Vericel has a 52 week low of $32.31 and a 52 week high of $61.49.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) 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 the consensus estimate of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven C. Gilman sold 5,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.35, for a total transaction of $235,361.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $443,850. This represents a 34.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total transaction of $724,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,937 shares in the company, valued at $9,142,373.06. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,266 shares of company stock worth $2,090,636. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Vericel by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 587,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,837,000 after acquiring an additional 400,667 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vericel in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $563,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,590,000 after purchasing an additional 47,108 shares during the last quarter. Scholtz & Company LLC bought a new position in Vericel during the second quarter worth $1,357,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Vericel by 21.6% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,768 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares during the period.

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.