Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Grows Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 1,205.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120,013 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.26% of Vericel worth $4,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Vericel by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Vericel during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Vericel by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $38.29 on Tuesday. Vericel Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.95 and a 1 year high of $43.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 91.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.63.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS 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 analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. This trade represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.