Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CERS. BTIG Research raised shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of Cerus stock opened at $2.98 on Friday. Cerus has a 12 month low of $1.15 and a 12 month high of $3.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $600.53 million, a P/E ratio of -99.33 and a beta of 1.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.43.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $63.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a negative return on equity of 10.19%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cerus will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,981,383.12. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 33,676 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $99,007.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,062,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,122,832.72. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 239,404 shares of company stock worth $697,893 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new position in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter worth $1,076,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cerus during the first quarter worth $461,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in Cerus by 227.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 793,244 shares in the last quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth about $545,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Cerus during the first quarter worth about $206,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cerus Company Profile

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.