Insider Selling: Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Sells $80,981.32 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 51,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total value of $80,981.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 400,665 shares in the company, valued at $633,050.70. This represents a 11.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Cerus Stock Down 1.3 %

Cerus stock opened at $1.51 on Friday. Cerus Co. has a twelve month low of $1.38 and a twelve month high of $2.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $280.54 million, a P/E ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.56.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.81 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Cerus in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Cerus by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,797 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Cerus by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Cerus by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 86,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 6,665 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Cerus by 51.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 8,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Cerus by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 8,458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.