Aigen Investment Management LP Boosts Holdings in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Aigen Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,326 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Vericel were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,743 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $917,000 after buying an additional 3,089 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 43,882 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,563,000 after buying an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter worth about $566,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vericel by 319.9% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 110,389 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,931,000 after buying an additional 84,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vericel in the fourth quarter worth about $383,000.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In other news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.67, for a total transaction of $781,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,704,842.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Sean C. Flynn sold 8,115 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.33, for a total transaction of $367,852.95. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.67, for a total transaction of $781,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,704,842.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,267 shares of company stock worth $2,450,996. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VCEL. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 18th. TheStreet raised shares of Vericel from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of Vericel from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.80.

Vericel Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VCEL opened at $48.23 on Friday. Vericel Co. has a 1-year low of $30.18 and a 1-year high of $53.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.79.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $51.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.07 million. Vericel had a net margin of 0.22% and a return on equity of 0.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Vericel Co. will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vericel Profile

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.