Vericel's (VCEL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

Key Points

• HC Wainwright reaffirmed its Buy rating on Vericel and maintained a $70 price target, implying approximately 54.46% upside from the stock’s reported $45.32 price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed overall: four analysts rate Vericel a Buy, two recommend Hold, and one recommends Sell, producing an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $57.
• Vericel reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue of $68.43 million—up 30.1% year over year—and an EPS loss of $0.12 versus the consensus loss estimate of $0.15.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $70.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price target indicates a potential upside of 54.46% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on VCEL. Truist Financial upped their target price on Vericel from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vericel from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Vericel from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.00.

Vericel Stock Performance

Vericel stock opened at $45.32 on Tuesday. Vericel has a twelve month low of $28.95 and a twelve month high of $48.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 107.91 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $41.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.18.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The company had revenue of $68.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vericel

In other Vericel news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.64, for a total transaction of $684,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,647 shares in the company, valued at $75,169.08. This trade represents a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,408,885. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 47,732 shares of company stock worth $2,084,167 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VCEL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Vericel by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $56,931,000 after buying an additional 290,795 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 133.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 497,167 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $17,903,000 after buying an additional 284,305 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 3rd quarter worth $8,409,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 20,888.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 256,688 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $8,258,000 after buying an additional 255,465 shares during the period.

Vericel Company Profile

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company's expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.

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