Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $48.45 and last traded at $48.4950, with a volume of 41825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.72.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VCEL. Wall Street Zen cut Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. 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 issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.50.

Vericel Trading Up 2.0%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 113.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 2,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.90, for a total value of $122,666.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 886 shares in the company, valued at $39,781.40. This represents a 75.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total transaction of $223,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,402.75. This represents a 23.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,732 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,167. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vericel

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $113,933,000 after purchasing an additional 356,680 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 290,795 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Vericel by 133.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 497,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,903,000 after purchasing an additional 284,305 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in Vericel during the third quarter worth approximately $8,409,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 20,888.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 256,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,258,000 after buying an additional 255,465 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.