Cerus Corporation (CERS) – What Are Brokerages Thinking About This Stock?

Shares of Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.25.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CERS. Freedom Broker assumed coverage on Cerus in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.50 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th.

Cerus Trading Up 4.1%

Cerus stock opened at $2.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.56. Cerus has a 52-week low of $1.38 and a 52-week high of $3.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $465.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.00 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $63.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 3.06%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cerus will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chrystal Jensen sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.98, for a total value of $89,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 936,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,791,237.86. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Globeflex Capital L P bought a new stake in Cerus during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,525,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cerus during the second quarter worth $64,868,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Cerus in the second quarter valued at about $2,536,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cerus by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,753,962 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $13,882,000 after purchasing an additional 539,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cerus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,026,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company that develops and commercializes technologies intended to improve the safety of donated blood components. Its primary platform is the INTERCEPT Blood System, which is designed to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections by inactivating viruses, bacteria, parasites and contaminating white blood cells in donated blood products.

The INTERCEPT portfolio includes systems for treating platelet and plasma components, as well as technologies developed for red blood cells.