Vericel Corporation $VCEL Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 767.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 47,632 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.11% of Vericel worth $1,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VCEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,060,000 after acquiring an additional 68,368 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Vericel by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 9.3% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,312 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,245,000 after purchasing an additional 208,750 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,018,000 after purchasing an additional 11,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,931,000 after purchasing an additional 290,795 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $223,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 16,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,402.75. The trade was a 23.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $603,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,225.87. This trade represents a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,232 shares of company stock worth $2,304,217. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VCEL. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.40.

Vericel Stock Performance

Vericel stock opened at $45.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.67. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.94 and a beta of 1.06. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $49.32.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $77.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.70 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 7.91%.The business’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Vericel

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.