Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells $43,478.25 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total value of $43,478.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,477,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,128.50. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS opened at $1.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Cerus Co. has a 12 month low of $1.38 and a 12 month high of $2.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.40 million, a P/E ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.75.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,721 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Cerus by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,319,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,813,000 after purchasing an additional 994,007 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cerus by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 6,393,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,847,000 after buying an additional 387,603 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cerus by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,454,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,862,000 after buying an additional 39,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,506,000 after buying an additional 79,505 shares in the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.