Insider Selling: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells $274,232.00 in Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 165,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $274,232.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,747,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,901,138.84. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS stock opened at $1.80 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $345.91 million, a P/E ratio of -22.50 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $2.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.88. Cerus Corporation has a 52 week low of $1.12 and a 52 week high of $2.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $64.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.31 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 26.09% and a negative net margin of 7.58%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CERS shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Cerus by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,583,702 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after acquiring an additional 358,548 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Cerus by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 296,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 97,592 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 339.6% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 94,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 73,244 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 63.2% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 599,743 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $954,000 after purchasing an additional 232,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,268 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 21,206 shares in the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.