Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $851,000 Position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,900 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $851,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.05% of Vericel as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 8.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,582 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter worth $197,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the third quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the third quarter worth $257,000.

Insider Transactions at Vericel

In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total value of $367,852.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 167 shares in the company, valued at $7,570.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total transaction of $367,852.95. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 167 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,570.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.59, for a total value of $780,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,307 shares in the company, valued at $8,708,739.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,567 shares of company stock worth $2,552,702. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VCEL. TheStreet upgraded Vericel from a "d+" rating to a "c-" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Vericel from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy 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 $46.40.

Vericel Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ VCEL traded up $0.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.05. 284,638 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 329,417. Vericel Co. has a 12 month low of $30.16 and a 12 month high of $53.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -511.61 and a beta of 1.71.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.08. Vericel had a negative return on equity of 1.55% and a negative net margin of 1.61%. The company had revenue of $65.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.28 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Vericel Co. will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.