Truist Financial Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Truist Financial in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $58.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $54.00. Truist Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 23.67% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised 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 report on Tuesday, June 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.50.

Vericel Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $46.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.33. Vericel has a 12-month low of $28.95 and a 12-month high of $49.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.44 and a beta of 1.07.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $77.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.70 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.Vericel’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.01) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vericel will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $223,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 16,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,402.75. This represents a 23.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $603,150.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,647 shares in the company, valued at $66,225.87. The trade was a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,732 shares of company stock worth $2,084,167. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Vericel in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 116.5% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 175.4% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000.

About Vericel

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.