Strs Ohio Takes Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired 18,200 shares of Vericel Corporation, valued at approximately $812,000, marking the fund's entry into the biotechnology company's stock.
• Vericel's stock performance shows significant volatility; it has a one-year low of $29.93 and a high of $63.00, with a current market cap of $1.60 billion.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Vericel, with BTIG Research downgrading it from "buy" to "neutral", while others maintain a "buy" or "overweight" rating with a target price of $67.00.

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,200 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $812,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 270,154 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $12,054,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Vericel by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 204,510 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $9,125,000 after purchasing an additional 27,526 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,895 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Vericel by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 950,486 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $42,410,000 after purchasing an additional 55,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 65,384 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,988 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VCEL. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Vericel from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Vericel from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vericel has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.40.

Vericel Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:VCEL traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $31.70. 38,009 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 545,476. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 264.15 and a beta of 1.33. Vericel Corporation has a 12 month low of $29.93 and a 12 month high of $63.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $35.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.03.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 2.47%. The business had revenue of $63.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vericel Profile

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.