Senvest Management LLC Sells 1,271,126 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Senvest Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,006,376 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,271,126 shares during the quarter. Senvest Management LLC’s holdings in Cerus were worth $10,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 390.4% during the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 1,170,060 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Cerus by 10.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 73,372 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 7,209 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Cerus by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,873 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 8,982 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Cerus by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,186,564 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 78,824 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.27 and a beta of 1.20. Cerus Co. has a one year low of $1.38 and a one year high of $2.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.18, for a total transaction of $61,879.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 590,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,286,995.70. The trade was a 4.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.40% 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.