HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price points to a potential upside of 2.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on VCEL. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Stephens raised Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.14.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $58.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 978.00 and a beta of 1.72. Vericel has a twelve month low of $37.35 and a twelve month high of $61.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.84.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.32 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,700. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total value of $587,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,427,545.12. The trade was a 14.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,100 shares of company stock valued at $889,872 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 61.4% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,660,000 after acquiring an additional 420,078 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 587,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,837,000 after acquiring an additional 400,667 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,575,000 after purchasing an additional 351,550 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 590,145 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,934,000 after buying an additional 209,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 3rd quarter worth $4,973,000.

Vericel Company Profile

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.