Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Stephens in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $65.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective points to a potential upside of 15.35% from the stock’s current price.

VCEL has been the subject of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.14.

Vericel Stock Down 2.1 %

VCEL stock opened at $56.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 939.32 and a beta of 1.72. Vericel has a 52-week low of $37.35 and a 52-week high of $61.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.89.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total value of $587,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,427,545.12. This represents a 14.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,595,700. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,100 shares of company stock worth $889,872. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 61.4% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,660,000 after acquiring an additional 420,078 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Vericel by 214.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 587,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,837,000 after purchasing an additional 400,667 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in Vericel by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,575,000 after purchasing an additional 351,550 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Vericel by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 590,145 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,934,000 after purchasing an additional 209,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vericel in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,973,000.

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.