Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Sells $71,527.26 in Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) insider Chrystal Jensen sold 24,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $71,527.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 966,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,971.58. This represents a 2.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Cerus Price Performance

Cerus stock opened at $3.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $2.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.30. Cerus Corporation has a 12-month low of $1.15 and a 12-month high of $3.21. The stock has a market cap of $633.17 million, a P/E ratio of -63.20 and a beta of 1.77.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. Cerus had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. The company had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 291.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,133 shares during the period. Kotler Kevin purchased a new stake in Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,084,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in Cerus by 227.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 793,244 shares during the period. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new position in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth $1,076,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 17.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,517,000 after purchasing an additional 519,301 shares in the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.