Insider Selling: Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Sells 18,949 Shares of Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 18,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total value of $27,476.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 715,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,037,982.50. The trade was a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Cerus Stock Performance

CERS remained flat at $1.45 during trading on Monday. 1,979,196 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,302,541. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cerus Co. has a twelve month low of $1.38 and a twelve month high of $2.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.40 million, a P/E ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Cerus by 1.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cerus by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cerus by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 86,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 6,665 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cerus by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,754,540 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,053,000 after buying an additional 8,707 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.