Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Shares Acquired by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 47.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 263,154 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,723 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Cerus were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Cerus by 16.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth approximately $277,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter worth $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 33,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total value of $50,998.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,507,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,972.50. The trade was a 2.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total transaction of $35,685.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,230,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,006,500. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 441,150 shares of company stock valued at $665,210. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of Cerus in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Cerus Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.29 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cerus Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.12 and a fifty-two week high of $2.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.65. The stock has a market cap of $239.67 million, a PE ratio of -11.73 and a beta of 1.70.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The business had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.81 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cerus Company Profile

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.