Champlain Investment Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL) by 62.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 997,291 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 383,498 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Vericel were worth $42,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 52,339 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,227,000 after acquiring an additional 4,065 shares during the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC raised its position in Vericel by 44.0% in the second quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 9,527 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in Vericel by 80.3% during the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 135,095 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,748,000 after purchasing an additional 60,185 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 4.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 146,024 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,213,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Vericel by 242.7% during the second quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 68,230 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,903,000 after buying an additional 48,319 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCEL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $41.00) on shares of Vericel in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Vericel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vericel in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.20.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $38.88 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.70. Vericel Corporation has a one year low of $29.24 and a one year high of $63.00. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 324.03 and a beta of 1.41.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.12. Vericel had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 2.47%. The firm had revenue of $67.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Vericel has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vericel Corporation will post 0.14 earnings per share 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.