Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Richard Benjamin Sells 24,235 Shares

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) insider Richard Benjamin sold 24,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total value of $48,712.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 919,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,848,249.27. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Cerus Price Performance

Shares of Cerus stock remained flat at $1.93 during trading hours on Monday. 2,029,960 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,640,307. Cerus Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $1.12 and a fifty-two week high of $2.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $370.89 million, a P/E ratio of -24.13 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 7.58% and a negative return on equity of 26.09%. The firm had revenue of $64.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.31 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Cerus Corporation will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new position in Cerus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Cerus by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 18,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 7,603 shares during the period. Bingham Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Cerus in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cerus has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company dedicated to enhancing the safety of blood transfusions worldwide. Its flagship offering, the INTERCEPT Blood System, employs pathogen reduction technology designed to inactivate a broad spectrum of viruses, bacteria, and parasites in donated platelets and plasma. This approach aims to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections and improve blood component safety for patients.

The INTERCEPT platform integrates seamlessly into existing blood center workflows, providing a one-step treatment process for collected blood products.