Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $56.00.

VCEL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Vericel from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Vericel during the first quarter worth $242,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 6.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 13.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 371,486 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,576,000 after acquiring an additional 44,333 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 9.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 123,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,490,000 after acquiring an additional 10,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Vericel by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 139,161 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,921,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Trading Up 4.9%

VCEL stock opened at $34.14 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.75 and a 200-day moving average of $35.74. The company has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.13 and a beta of 1.20. Vericel has a 12-month low of $28.95 and a 12-month high of $45.97.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. The firm had revenue of $92.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.66 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 5.17% and a net margin of 5.98%.Vericel’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vericel Company 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.