Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Takes $30,000 Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VCEL. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Vericel by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,895 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC acquired a new position in Vericel in the 1st quarter valued at $137,000. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Vericel by 29.9% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,071 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Vericel in the first quarter valued at about $242,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in Vericel in the second quarter valued at about $243,000.

Vericel Price Performance

VCEL stock opened at $33.59 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.41. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 279.94 and a beta of 1.39. Vericel Corporation has a 1 year low of $29.24 and a 1 year high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $63.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.61 million. Vericel had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 2.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VCEL. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BTIG Research cut shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Vericel from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.40.

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.