Strs Ohio Makes New $812,000 Investment 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 purchased a new position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,200 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $812,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VCEL. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 119.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,288,921 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $70,775,000 after purchasing an additional 701,064 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 24.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,365,744 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $60,939,000 after purchasing an additional 265,956 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vericel by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,432,434 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $63,915,000 after acquiring an additional 158,470 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Vericel during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,751,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Vericel by 5,916.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 129,175 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,764,000 after acquiring an additional 127,028 shares during the period.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,575,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 833,477. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 264.02 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $35.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.21. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $29.93 and a fifty-two week high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $63.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.61 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 2.85%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, June 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Vericel from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BTIG Research cut Vericel from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.40.

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.