Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Shares Gap Down to $50.52

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $50.52, but opened at $46.00. Vericel shares last traded at $45.60, with a volume of 5,179 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on VCEL. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Vericel in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Vericel Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $47.21 and its 200 day moving average is $46.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,560.44 and a beta of 1.70.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $51.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.07 million. Vericel had a net margin of 0.22% and a return on equity of 0.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Vericel Co. will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $772,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,752 shares in the company, valued at $9,739,578.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $772,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,752 shares in the company, valued at $9,739,578.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.18, for a total transaction of $782,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,891.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 63,791 shares of company stock worth $3,101,269. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 86.1% in the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new position in shares of Vericel during the first quarter worth $27,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 319.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 662 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Vericel during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000.

About Vericel

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.