Portside Wealth Group LLC Purchases New Position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,955 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,454,139 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $79,847,000 after buying an additional 162,419 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 valued at $70,775,000 after purchasing an additional 701,064 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vericel by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,273,964 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $69,953,000 after purchasing an additional 30,180 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,416 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $69,100,000 after buying an additional 501,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Vericel by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,166,115 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $64,046,000 after buying an additional 12,062 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $1,040,966.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,906,229.06. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VCEL. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vericel from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.14.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL stock traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $43.82. The stock had a trading volume of 262,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,040. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 730.46 and a beta of 1.33. Vericel Co. has a one year low of $37.39 and a one year high of $63.00. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $41.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.12.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $52.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $53.86 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vericel Co. 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.