Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Sells 33,676 Shares

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 33,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $99,007.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,062,188 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,832.72. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $3.16. 3,286,738 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,750,392. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $633.17 million, a PE ratio of -63.20 and a beta of 1.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.29. Cerus Corporation has a 1 year low of $1.15 and a 1 year high of $3.21.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CERS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CERS. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 62,854 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cerus by 291.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,064,133 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,222,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 344,395 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Cerus in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Cerus by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 268,946 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 17,039 shares during the period. 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.