Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Insider Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 75,753 shares in the company, valued at $3,408,885. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VCEL traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.49. 743,265 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 621,141. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.93 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.85. Vericel Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.95 and a twelve month high of $46.62.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,941,000 after buying an additional 169,971 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 583,884 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,026,000 after buying an additional 41,018 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,580,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,931,000 after acquiring an additional 290,795 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 90.3% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 9.0% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,250,000 after acquiring an additional 161,378 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.