Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Short Interest Update

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 19,696,885 shares, an increase of 82.9% from the May 31st total of 10,766,701 shares. Approximately 10.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,320,242 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CERS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BTIG Research raised shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $3.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Cerus has a 12-month low of $1.15 and a 12-month high of $3.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $2.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $601.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.00 and a beta of 1.77.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cerus will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 16,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total value of $50,001.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,656,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,970,121. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 7.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 53,788 shares of company stock worth $153,182. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CERS. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Cerus by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 37,051 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 4,916 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Cerus by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 507,455 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 5,365 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Cerus by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 81,556 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 6,094 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Cerus by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 142,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 6,415 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 103,192 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 6,651 shares during 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.