Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Trading Down 5.5% – Here’s Why

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS)’s share price was down 5.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $2.84 and last traded at $2.8250. Approximately 103,616 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 2,079,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.99.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on CERS shares. Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $2.56 and its 200 day moving average is $2.28. The stock has a market cap of $601.11 million, a PE ratio of -60.00 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 16,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total transaction of $50,001.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,656,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,970,121. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.60, for a total value of $53,180.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $680,365.40. The trade was a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,788 shares of company stock valued at $153,182 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus during the fourth quarter worth $1,076,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Cerus by 227.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 793,244 shares during the period. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cerus during the 4th quarter worth $545,000. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Company Profile

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.