Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

VCEL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet upgraded Vericel from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vericel has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $46.80.

Vericel Trading Up 5.7 %

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $51.13 on Friday. Vericel has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $53.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.46. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5,107.89 and a beta of 1.74.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 0.22% and a return on equity of 0.21%. The business had revenue of $51.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total transaction of $367,852.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 167 shares in the company, valued at $7,570.11. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total transaction of $367,852.95. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 3,278 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,480.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,267 shares of company stock worth $2,450,996 in the last three months. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCEL. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Vericel by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 48,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 4,513 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 3.4% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $850,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 4.9% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,823 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 118.9% in the 3rd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 45,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after buying an additional 24,852 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vericel by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 272,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,135,000 after buying an additional 8,395 shares in the last quarter.

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.