Madison Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 50,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,819,000. Madison Asset Management LLC owned 0.10% of Vericel at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vericel by 1.9% during the 4th 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. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,254,562 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,187,000 after purchasing an additional 79,278 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 90.3% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,864 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,250,000 after purchasing an additional 161,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in Vericel by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,941,000 after purchasing an additional 169,971 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,460. This represents a 4.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VCEL. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Vericel from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.40.

Vericel Price Performance

NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $33.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 78.91 and a beta of 1.15. Vericel Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.95 and a 1-year high of $45.97.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released 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. Vericel had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The firm had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vericel 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.