Canaccord Genuity Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 4.79% from the stock’s current price.

VCEL has been the subject of several other reports. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, November 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Vericel in a research note on Friday, August 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.14.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $57.26 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.80. Vericel has a 1 year low of $32.31 and a 1 year high of $57.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 930.66 and a beta of 1.66.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The company had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.32 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total value of $724,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,142,373.06. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven C. Gilman sold 5,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.35, for a total transaction of $235,361.55. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $443,850. This represents a 34.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,166 shares of company stock worth $1,200,764 in the last three months. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Vericel by 49.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 49,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,567,000 after buying an additional 16,312 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Vericel by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 16,199 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vericel by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,413,442 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,567,000 after purchasing an additional 39,349 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Vericel during the first quarter worth about $595,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 7.8% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 58,377 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,036,000 after buying an additional 4,227 shares during the period.

Vericel Company Profile

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.