Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $4.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Cerus Price Performance

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.84. Cerus has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.59. The company has a market cap of $306.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.00 and a beta of 1.29.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative return on equity of 37.90% and a negative net margin of 11.19%. The firm had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cerus will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total transaction of $35,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 162,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,596.74. This trade represents a 10.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,055,000 after buying an additional 2,589,721 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cerus by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,319,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,813,000 after buying an additional 994,007 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,877,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,432,000 after buying an additional 986,286 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 2,084.7% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 470,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 6,393,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,847,000 after buying an additional 387,603 shares in the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cerus

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.