Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 10,511,205 shares, a growth of 35.1% from the February 26th total of 7,781,596 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,914,492 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CERS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cerus has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other Cerus news, insider Chrystal Jensen sold 30,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total value of $61,998.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,059,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,128,869.39. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 127,544 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $211,723.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,040,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,727,314.66. This trade represents a 10.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,194,282 shares of company stock worth $2,106,290 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new position in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Cerus by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 18,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 7,603 shares in the last quarter. Bingham Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cerus Stock Performance

CERS traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $1.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 65,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,707,172. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.91. The stock has a market cap of $344.75 million, a P/E ratio of -22.43 and a beta of 1.51. Cerus has a twelve month low of $1.12 and a twelve month high of $2.96.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $64.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.31 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 26.09% and a negative net margin of 7.58%. Research analysts expect that Cerus will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.