1,992,855 Shares in Vericel Corporation $VCEL Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,992,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,662,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vericel by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 13.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Vericel by 0.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 45,404 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Vericel by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,698 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Vericel by 2.2% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 23,079 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jonathan Siegal sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $220,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,714.20. This represents a 80.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph Anthony Mara, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $223,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,402.75. This represents a 23.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 52,232 shares of company stock valued at $2,304,217 in the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VCEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.40.

Vericel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VCEL opened at $42.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.14. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $49.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $77.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.70 million. Vericel had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 6.91%. Vericel’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

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.