SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $277,000 in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 180,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cerus by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 280,616 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 85,392 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Cerus by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,797 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Cerus by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,169,487 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,341,000 after acquiring an additional 26,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Cerus by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 8,458 shares in the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Cerus in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Cerus Price Performance

Shares of CERS opened at $1.61 on Thursday. Cerus Co. has a twelve month low of $1.38 and a twelve month high of $2.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.80. The firm has a market cap of $299.12 million, a PE ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 1.29.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other Cerus news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total transaction of $35,685.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,230,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,006,500. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total transaction of $35,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 162,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $288,596.74. The trade was a 10.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 165,713 shares of company stock worth $264,812 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

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.