Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from seven brokerages, with an average target price of $61.14.
• Institutional investors have shown increasing interest, with significant purchases by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions and Teacher Retirement System of Texas, among others, in the fourth quarter.
• Vericel reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of ($0.23), falling short of the expected ($0.09), while revenue increased by 2.6% year-over-year.

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.14.

VCEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial decreased their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vericel from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Vericel by 101.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vericel by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,357 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 748 shares during the last quarter.

Vericel Price Performance

Vericel stock traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.58. 70,479 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 481,524. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.93. Vericel has a fifty-two week low of $34.87 and a fifty-two week high of $63.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,360.12 and a beta of 1.32.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $52.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.86 million. Vericel had a net margin of 1.25% and a return on equity of 1.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vericel Company 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.