TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Sells 205,605 Shares of Vericel Corporation $VCEL

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 631,256 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 205,605 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC owned about 1.25% of Vericel worth $22,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 77.6% in the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 29,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after buying an additional 12,893 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in shares of Vericel by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 15,495 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 2,152.6% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 45,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after buying an additional 43,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vericel during the 4th quarter worth about $1,819,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,460. This represents a 4.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $34.49 on Wednesday. Vericel Corporation has a one year low of $28.95 and a one year high of $45.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.62 and its 200 day moving average is $36.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.12 and a beta of 1.15.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $63.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel Corporation will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.