Vericel Corporation $VCEL Stock Position Decreased by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 37,035 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Vericel were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VCEL. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,458 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 135.6% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,332 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares in the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. This trade represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $33.03 on Monday. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $45.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.64 and a beta of 1.15.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The company had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vericel from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.40.

Vericel Profile

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company’s expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.