Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Stock Price Up 8.1% – What’s Next?

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS)’s share price rose 8.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $2.83 and last traded at $2.8550. Approximately 1,138,007 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 2,022,437 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Cerus Trading Up 2.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.26. The stock has a market cap of $585.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.40 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.60, for a total value of $53,180.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $680,365.40. This represents a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 16,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total transaction of $50,001.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,656,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,970,121. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 53,788 shares of company stock worth $153,182. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 3.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,218,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,217,000 after acquiring an additional 39,310 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC raised its stake in Cerus by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,114,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,488,000 after purchasing an additional 148,812 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Cerus by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 578,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 80,900 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Cerus by 56.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 12,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Cerus during the first quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Company Profile

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.