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

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.14.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VCEL. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, November 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com raised Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stephens raised Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Vericel Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $59.50 on Wednesday. Vericel has a 1-year low of $36.35 and a 1-year high of $61.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 991.83 and a beta of 1.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.66.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The business had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.32 million. On average, analysts predict that Vericel will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 transaction of $724,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,142,373.06. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $587,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,427,545.12. This represents a 14.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,433 shares of company stock worth $1,855,275 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,372,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,251,000 after purchasing an additional 22,461 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 1.7% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,700,000 after buying an additional 34,360 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Vericel by 37.4% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $54,575,000 after buying an additional 351,550 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,154,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,768,000 after buying an additional 9,613 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 61.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 420,078 shares during the period.

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.