StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Vericel from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.50.

Vericel Price Performance

NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $29.31 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.31 and a 200-day moving average of $25.88. Vericel has a one year low of $17.30 and a one year high of $41.24.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $52.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.95 million. Vericel had a negative net margin of 10.17% and a negative return on equity of 9.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel will post -0.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 39,938 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.13, for a total transaction of $1,083,517.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,066 shares in the company, valued at $4,261,200.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCEL. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vericel by 3.1% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,339 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vericel by 6.7% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,197 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Vericel by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,981 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Vericel by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,025 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Vericel by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,239 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the last quarter.

About Vericel

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Vericel Corp. engages in the research, product development, manufacture, and distribution of patient-specific, expanded cellular therapies for use in the treatment of patients with diseases. Its product portfolio includes MACI and Epicel. The MACI portfolio is FDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient’s own knee.