Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Short Interest Up 64.3% in May

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 18,522,745 shares, a growth of 64.3% from the April 30th total of 11,273,044 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,628,884 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 9.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In related news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 447,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $743,276.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,998,493 shares in the company, valued at $8,297,498.38. The trade was a 8.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 165,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $274,232.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,747,674 shares in the company, valued at $2,901,138.84. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 916,001 shares of company stock worth $1,574,123 over the last quarter. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Globeflex Capital L P bought a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,076,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in Cerus by 227.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 793,244 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its position in Cerus by 63.2% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 599,743 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $954,000 after buying an additional 232,218 shares during the period. Round Rock Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cerus during the fourth quarter valued at about $545,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Cerus by 321.3% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 46,801 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 35,692 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cerus Stock Performance

NASDAQ CERS opened at $2.79 on Friday. Cerus has a 1 year low of $1.15 and a 1 year high of $3.15. 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 firm has a market cap of $559.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.80 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $2.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.16.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted 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 net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cerus will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CERS has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

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.