Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 489 Shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,781 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $2,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCEL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 4,126.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 634 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Vericel by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,773 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Vericel in the 3rd quarter worth $92,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Vericel by 826.6% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,511 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VCEL. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BTIG Research upped their price target on Vericel from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vericel news, Director Paul K. Wotton sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $152,672.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,402 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,045.44. The trade was a 8.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.72, for a total transaction of $587,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,427,545.12. This represents a 14.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,100 shares of company stock worth $889,872. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Vericel Stock Performance

VCEL stock opened at $57.43 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.40. Vericel Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.12 and a fifty-two week high of $61.49. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 957.33 and a beta of 1.72.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $57.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.32 million. Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. On average, equities analysts predict that Vericel Co. will post 0.12 EPS for the current year.

About Vericel

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.