Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $1.89 and traded as high as $2.07. Cerus shares last traded at $1.98, with a volume of 1,200,281 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Cerus Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $347.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.00 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $46.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.10 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 37.90% and a negative net margin of 11.19%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cerus Co. will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $35,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 162,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $288,596.74. This trade represents a 10.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CERS. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Creative Planning raised its position in Cerus by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 8,411 shares during the last quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its position in Cerus by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 35,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 9,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cerus in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Company Profile

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.