Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Stock Price Down 4.9% – Time to Sell?

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) shares were down 4.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $31.55 and last traded at $31.46. Approximately 1,192,546 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 116% from the average daily volume of 551,810 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VCEL has been the topic of a number of research reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Leerink Partners reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, December 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.00.

Vericel Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.42 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.83.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Vericel had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The business had revenue of $92.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.66 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,060,000 after purchasing an additional 68,368 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Vericel by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,254,562 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,187,000 after purchasing an additional 79,278 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Vericel by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,018,000 after buying an additional 11,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its position in Vericel by 9.0% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,250,000 after buying an additional 161,378 shares during the last quarter.

Vericel Company Profile

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.