Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Vericel from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Vericel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.50.

Vericel Price Performance

NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $37.40 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.43. The company has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.84 and a beta of 1.17. Vericel has a one year low of $29.24 and a one year high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $67.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 4.30% and a net margin of 5.06%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VCEL. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Vericel by 6.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vericel by 13.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 371,486 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,576,000 after acquiring an additional 44,333 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 123,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,490,000 after acquiring an additional 10,191 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel during the 1st quarter worth approximately $812,000.

About Vericel

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.