Vivek Jayaraman Sells 42,359 Shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $124,535.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,694,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,383.12. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS opened at $3.16 on Friday. Cerus Corporation has a 12-month low of $1.15 and a 12-month high of $3.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $633.17 million, a P/E ratio of -63.20 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CERS. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BTIG Research raised Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cerus by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,986 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,147,000 after acquiring an additional 62,663 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,533,758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,033,000 after acquiring an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,114,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,488,000 after purchasing an additional 148,812 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,517,000 after purchasing an additional 519,301 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in Cerus by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,423,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,993,000 after purchasing an additional 25,771 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.