Swiss National Bank Increases Position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Swiss National Bank raised its position in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL – Get Rating) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 102,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Vericel were worth $2,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Vericel in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. First Washington CORP raised its position in Vericel by 36.4% in the third quarter. First Washington CORP now owns 143,781 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,336,000 after purchasing an additional 38,370 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Vericel by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,760,522 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,372,000 after purchasing an additional 338,887 shares during the period. Brinker Capital Investments LLC raised its position in Vericel by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 29,715 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,035,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,264,000 after acquiring an additional 19,492 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of VCEL stock opened at $35.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.97. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.05 and a beta of 1.77. Vericel Co. has a 12 month low of $17.30 and a 12 month high of $35.73.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $52.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.95 million. Vericel had a negative net margin of 10.11% and a negative return on equity of 9.26%. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vericel Co. will post -0.29 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VCEL. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Vericel from $39.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Vericel from $31.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Vericel in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vericel currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Vericel Company Profile

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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.