Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $2.48 and traded as high as $2.58. Cerus shares last traded at $2.53, with a volume of 1,454,561 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CERS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Monday. Finally, Freedom Broker began coverage on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.50 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.25.

Cerus Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $533.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -88.17 and a beta of 1.80.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a negative return on equity of 10.19%. The business had revenue of $63.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.90 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other news, COO Vivek Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,694,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,383.12. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO William Greenman sold 101,919 shares of Cerus 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,053,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,855,925.84. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 232,283 shares of company stock valued at $684,112 over the last three months. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Cerus during the second quarter worth approximately $64,868,000. Senvest Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $7,488,000 after buying an additional 148,812 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,026,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in Cerus by 1,154.3% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 1,491,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Cerus in the second quarter valued at $2,536,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Company Profile

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on improving the safety of blood transfusions. The company develops and commercializes technologies designed to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections by inactivating certain viruses, bacteria, parasites and white blood cells in donated blood components.

Its principal product platform is the INTERCEPT Blood System, which uses amotosalen and ultraviolet A light to treat blood components. The system is used with platelet and plasma components, and Cerus has also developed applications for red blood cells and cryoprecipitation.