Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Sells $95,836.48 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 60,656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $95,836.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 493,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,301.96. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Cerus Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.51 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $280.54 million, a PE ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.56. Cerus Co. has a 12 month low of $1.38 and a 12 month high of $2.54.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The firm had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.81 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,685,000 after acquiring an additional 69,950 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cerus by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,506,000 after acquiring an additional 79,505 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 16.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 219,755 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Cerus by 12.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 28,383 shares during the period. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,721 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Cerus in a report on Friday, February 21st.

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.