Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO William Mariner Greenman Sells 101,919 Shares

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 101,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $299,641.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,053,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,855,925.84. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Cerus Stock Up 5.3%

NASDAQ CERS opened at $3.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $633.17 million, a PE ratio of -63.20 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $1.15 and a fifty-two week high of $3.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $2.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cerus by 291.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,133 shares in the last quarter. Kotler Kevin bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,084,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Cerus by 227.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 793,244 shares in the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,076,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 17.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,517,000 after purchasing an additional 519,301 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CERS shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BTIG Research raised Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

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.