Vericel Corporation $VCEL Shares Sold by Summit Creek Advisors LLC

Summit Creek Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 422,931 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 108,672 shares during the period. Vericel makes up about 2.4% of Summit Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Summit Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $15,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 90.3% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,864 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 159.5% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 542,866 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,084,000 after acquiring an additional 333,649 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Vericel in the third quarter valued at $8,409,000. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,941,000 after acquiring an additional 169,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vericel by 9.0% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,250,000 after acquiring an additional 161,378 shares in the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $121,520.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. This trade represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vericel Price Performance

Vericel stock opened at $35.40 on Thursday. Vericel Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.95 and a 1-year high of $45.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 84.29 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The company had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.68 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Vericel’s quarterly revenue was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VCEL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Vericel from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.40.

Vericel 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.