Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.50.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VCEL shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. BTIG Research lowered Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vericel

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Vericel by 51.3% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 101.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,000.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL opened at $37.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.76 and a beta of 1.20. Vericel has a 1 year low of $29.24 and a 1 year high of $63.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.06.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.12. The firm 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%. Vericel’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.