Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Earns Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $70.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 54.46% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Vericel from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vericel currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Vericel Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $45.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.91 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.18. Vericel has a twelve month low of $28.95 and a twelve month high of $48.75.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The company had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vericel

In related news, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $223,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,402.75. This trade represents a 23.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares in the company, valued at $3,408,885. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,732 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,167. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Vericel during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Vericel by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 175.4% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vericel in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company’s expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.