Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Director Sells $115,760.00 in Stock

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Director Robert Md Zerbe sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.88, for a total value of $115,760.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,909,750.60. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Vericel Price Performance

NASDAQ VCEL traded down $0.46 on Friday, hitting $56.96. 698,761 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 911,978. Vericel Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.95 and a 52-week high of $59.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.00 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.41.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.21. Vericel had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $85.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Vericel’s quarterly revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Vericel during the 2nd quarter worth about $360,023,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vericel in the 2nd quarter valued at $88,662,000. Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in Vericel by 204.7% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,164,250 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,454,012 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Vericel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,210,000. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel during the second quarter worth $24,463,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VCEL. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $60.00 target price on Vericel in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Vericel from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing cell therapies and other treatments for serious conditions. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company markets its products primarily in the United States. Its products include MACI, an implant made from a patient’s own cultured cartilage cells used to repair certain cartilage defects in the knee, and Epicel, a cultured skin graft used to treat patients with deep burns. Vericel also commercializes NexoBrid in the United States, an enzyme-based treatment for removing dead tissue from severe thermal burns.