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

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.50.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research downgraded Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,463,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $104,826,000 after purchasing an additional 401,990 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vericel by 90.3% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,578,000 after buying an additional 1,048,864 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 161,378 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in Vericel by 18.0% in the second quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,742,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $74,136,000 after buying an additional 265,606 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vericel by 3.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,240,389 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,786,000 after buying an additional 38,799 shares during the period.

Vericel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $36.29 on Friday. Vericel has a fifty-two week low of $29.24 and a fifty-two week high of $63.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 151.21 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.39.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $67.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 million. Vericel had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 4.30%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.02) EPS. Research analysts predict that Vericel will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

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.