Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.14.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VCEL. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Stephens upgraded Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul K. Wotton sold 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $152,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,402 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,045.44. This trade represents a 8.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total value of $724,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,937 shares in the company, valued at $9,142,373.06. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,266 shares of company stock valued at $2,090,636. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCEL. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Vericel by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,372,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,251,000 after buying an additional 22,461 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,700,000 after acquiring an additional 34,360 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,154,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,768,000 after purchasing an additional 9,613 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,660,000 after purchasing an additional 420,078 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $56.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 941.82 and a beta of 1.71. Vericel has a 1 year low of $32.31 and a 1 year high of $61.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.24.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $57.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. Analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.13 EPS for the current year.

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.