Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of 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, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cerus currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Cerus Trading Down 0.3%

CERS opened at $2.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $2.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.43. Cerus has a one year low of $1.15 and a one year high of $3.47. The stock has a market cap of $598.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -99.00 and a beta of 1.81.

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

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $124,535.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,694,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,981,383.12. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $99,007.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,062,188 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,832.72. This represents a 3.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 269,404 shares of company stock valued at $787,293 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus during the second quarter valued at about $64,868,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $17,147,000 after buying an additional 62,663 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position 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 buying an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 148,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 519,301 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.