Insider Selling: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells 34,094 Shares of Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 34,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total value of $68,528.94. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,912,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,844,876.74. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS remained flat at $1.93 during trading on Monday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,029,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,640,307. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $370.89 million, a PE ratio of -24.13 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.86. Cerus Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.12 and a 52-week high of $2.96.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative return on equity of 26.09% and a negative net margin of 7.58%.The company had revenue of $64.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.31 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Corporation will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cerus by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,986 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,147,000 after acquiring an additional 62,663 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cerus by 2.6% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,533,758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,033,000 after acquiring an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cerus by 17.6% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,517,000 after acquiring an additional 519,301 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 38.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,632,304 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,710,000 after purchasing an additional 733,683 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Cerus by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,423,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,993,000 after purchasing an additional 25,771 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CERS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. 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.