D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) by 227.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,470 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 52,453 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Vericel worth $4,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,233,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,126,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 66.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 501,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,122,373 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $61,630,000 after acquiring an additional 227,675 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VCEL. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Vericel from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vericel

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $1,040,966.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,906,229.06. The trade was a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL stock traded up $0.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.52. The stock had a trading volume of 574,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,589. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 725.45 and a beta of 1.31. Vericel Co. has a 52-week low of $37.39 and a 52-week high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $52.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.86 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The firm's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Vericel Co. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current 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.