Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) Shares Acquired by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,933 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,923 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VCEL. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new position in shares of Vericel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 511.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,357 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 826.6% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,511 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 2,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Vericel by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ VCEL opened at $42.54 on Tuesday. Vericel Co. has a 52 week low of $37.39 and a 52 week high of $63.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 709.12 and a beta of 1.31.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $52.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.86 million. Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Vericel Co. will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VCEL. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vericel presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vericel

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 26,592 shares of Vericel stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.78, for a total value of $1,217,381.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 259,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,902,662.66. The trade was a 9.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.