Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.40.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VCEL shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet raised shares of Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on Vericel from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,708,739.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total transaction of $169,046.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,480.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total transaction of $780,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,708,739.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,267 shares of company stock valued at $2,450,996. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 86.1% during the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new position in Vericel in the first quarter worth about $27,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Vericel in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vericel during the first quarter valued at approximately $147,000.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $49.52 on Friday. Vericel has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $53.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -550.16 and a beta of 1.74.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $65.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.28 million. Vericel had a negative return on equity of 1.55% and a negative net margin of 1.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.