Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Insider Jonathan Mark Hopper Sells 10,000 Shares

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,408,885. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Jonathan Mark Hopper also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, April 2nd, Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of Vericel stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $44.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.93 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.90. Vericel Corporation has a one year low of $28.95 and a one year high of $46.62.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.68 million. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The company’s revenue was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VCEL. Leerink Partners reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Vericel from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vericel by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,060,000 after purchasing an additional 68,368 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Vericel by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,933,000 after buying an additional 356,680 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Vericel by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,312 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,245,000 after buying an additional 208,750 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,222,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,018,000 after buying an additional 11,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,250,000 after buying an additional 161,378 shares during the last quarter.

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.