Alliancebernstein L.P. Raises Stock Position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)


Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 74.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,380 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,630 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.22% of Vericel worth $5,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Vericel by 1,266.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 33,267 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Vericel by 44.0% during the first quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 309,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,202,000 after purchasing an additional 94,687 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Vericel by 11.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 563,471 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,298,000 after purchasing an additional 57,257 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Vericel by 1,688.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 357,343 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $19,851,000 after purchasing an additional 337,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS bought a new stake in Vericel during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,969,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.88% of the company’s stock.


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A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VCEL shares. Oppenheimer restated a “hold” rating on shares of Vericel in a report on Wednesday, June 30th. SVB Leerink lowered their price objective on shares of Vericel from $67.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 5th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 10th. TheStreet lowered shares of Vericel from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Vericel from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.50.


In other news, COO Michael Halpin sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $1,070,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean C. Flynn sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $154,028.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,800 shares of company stock worth $1,736,628 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.


Shares of Vericel stock opened at $52.63 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 292.41 and a beta of 2.09. Vericel Co. has a 12-month low of $14.84 and a 12-month high of $68.94.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.08). The business had revenue of $39.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.78 million. Vericel had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 6.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 97.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.18) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Vericel Co. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.


Vericel Company Profile

Vericel Corp. engages in the research, product development, manufacture, and distribution of patient-specific, expanded cellular therapies for use in the treatment of patients with diseases. Its product portfolio includes MACI and Epicel. The MACI portfolio is FDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient’s own knee.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Vericel (NASDAQ:<b><a href=VCEL)' width='650' height='350' />

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