Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman Sells 16,667 Shares

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 16,667 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total value of $50,001.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,656,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,970,121. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Cerus Trading Down 4.9%

Shares of CERS stock opened at $2.70 on Wednesday. Cerus Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.15 and a 52-week high of $3.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $541.00 million, a PE ratio of -54.00 and a beta of 1.76. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.14.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CERS. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CERS. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 152.4% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 104,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 62,854 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cerus by 291.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,133 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Cerus by 12.0% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,222,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 344,395 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Cerus during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Cerus by 6.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 268,946 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 17,039 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.