Man Group plc Takes Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 67,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,998,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Vericel by 17.7% during 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 during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in Vericel by 13.7% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Vericel by 0.8% in 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 buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period.

Vericel Stock Down 2.6%

VCEL stock opened at $39.90 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.90 and a beta of 1.06. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $49.32.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $77.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Vericel Corporation will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Vericel from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.40.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In related news, insider Sean C. Flynn sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $603,150.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,225.87. The trade was a 90.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 75,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,408,885. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 52,232 shares of company stock worth $2,304,217 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Vericel Company 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.