Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Cerus Corporation $CERS

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,406,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CERS. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Cerus in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,868,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cerus during the second quarter worth $67,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Cerus during the second quarter worth $578,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Cerus during the second quarter valued at $1,635,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Cerus during the second quarter valued at $263,000. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In related news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 101,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $299,641.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,053,036 shares in the company, valued at $14,855,925.84. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Chrystal Jensen sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.98, for a total value of $89,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 936,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,791,237.86. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 269,404 shares of company stock valued at $787,293 over the last quarter. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS opened at $2.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $566.27 million, a P/E ratio of -93.67 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.44. Cerus Corporation has a one year low of $1.17 and a one year high of $3.47.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $63.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 3.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research raised shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cerus has a consensus 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.