Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Invests $291,000 in Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vericel Co. (NASDAQ:VCEL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,454,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $79,847,000 after buying an additional 162,419 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Vericel by 119.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,288,921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $70,775,000 after acquiring an additional 701,064 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Vericel by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,273,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,953,000 after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Vericel by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,100,000 after purchasing an additional 501,736 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vericel by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,166,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $64,046,000 after purchasing an additional 12,062 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other Vericel news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $1,040,966.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,906,229.06. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Vericel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Vericel from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.86.

Vericel Price Performance

Vericel stock opened at $41.73 on Monday. Vericel Co. has a one year low of $37.39 and a one year high of $63.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.19 and its 200 day moving average is $51.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 695.62 and a beta of 1.31.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). Vericel had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 1.48%. The company had revenue of $52.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vericel Co. will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vericel Company 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.