Insider Selling: Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Insider Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $587,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,427,545.12. This trade represents a 14.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $56.52 on Friday. Vericel Co. has a one year low of $32.31 and a one year high of $61.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 942.16 and a beta of 1.71.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $57.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.32 million. Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vericel Co. will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCEL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stephens raised shares of Vericel to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vericel by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,372,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,251,000 after acquiring an additional 22,461 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,075,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,700,000 after buying an additional 34,360 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,291,720 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $54,575,000 after acquiring an additional 351,550 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,154,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,768,000 after acquiring an additional 9,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vericel by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $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.