Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives $59.71 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.71.

VCEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Stephens raised Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. BTIG Research upped their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $56.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 941.00 and a beta of 1.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $50.54 and its 200-day moving average is $48.00. Vericel has a 1 year low of $32.31 and a 1 year high of $61.49.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $57.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.32 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. Analysts anticipate that Vericel will post 0.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.38, for a total transaction of $724,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,142,373.06. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Md Zerbe sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,700. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,266 shares of company stock valued at $2,090,636 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Vericel by 1.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,372,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,251,000 after buying an additional 22,461 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Vericel by 1.7% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,700,000 after acquiring an additional 34,360 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Vericel by 37.4% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,575,000 after acquiring an additional 351,550 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vericel by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,154,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,768,000 after acquiring an additional 9,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vericel by 61.4% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,660,000 after acquiring an additional 420,078 shares during the last quarter.

Vericel Company Profile

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns.