Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 975,218 Shares of Cerus Corporation $CERS

Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,709,959 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 975,218 shares during the period. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Cerus were worth $9,655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 152.4% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 104,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 62,854 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 291.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,133 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 12.0% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,222,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 344,395 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 6.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 268,946 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 17,039 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERS has been the topic of a number of research reports. BTIG Research upgraded 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cerus has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

CERS opened at $2.58 on Wednesday. Cerus Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.15 and a 52-week high of $3.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $516.95 million, a PE ratio of -51.60 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.19.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 127,544 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $211,723.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,040,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,727,314.66. The trade was a 10.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 101,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $168,888.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 777,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,419.26. This trade represents a 11.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 875,575 shares of company stock worth $1,498,122 in the last three months. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.