Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells $124,535.46 in Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $124,535.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,694,348 shares in the company, valued at $4,981,383.12. This represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Cerus Stock Up 5.3%

Cerus stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $3.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,286,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,750,392. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.59 and its 200 day moving average is $2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $633.17 million, a PE ratio of -63.20 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.15 and a 52-week high of $3.21.

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

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,218,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,217,000 after acquiring an additional 39,310 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,114,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,488,000 after acquiring an additional 148,812 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Cerus by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 578,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 80,900 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Cerus by 56.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 12,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Cerus during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CERS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

About Cerus

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.