Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives $57.50 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.50.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VCEL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. BTIG Research cut shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th.

Vericel Stock Performance

VCEL stock opened at $37.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.91. Vericel has a 52-week low of $29.24 and a 52-week high of $63.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 156.92 and a beta of 1.20.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.12. Vericel had a return on equity of 4.30% and a net margin of 5.06%.The business had revenue of $67.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the third quarter valued at $625,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Vericel during the 3rd quarter valued at about $519,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 55,996 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Vericel in the third quarter worth approximately $8,409,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 346.6% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 70,772 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,227,000 after acquiring an additional 54,926 shares during the period.

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.