Analysts Set Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Target Price at $60.86

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.86.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VCEL shares. Truist Financial reduced 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. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL opened at $42.54 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 709.12 and a beta of 1.31. Vericel has a one year low of $37.39 and a one year high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released 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 firm had revenue of $52.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.86 million. Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,906,229.06. The trade was a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Vericel by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $280,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $956,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter valued at about $261,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224 shares during the last quarter.

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.