Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek K. Jayaraman Sells 29,985 Shares

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total value of $43,478.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,477,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,128.50. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Cerus Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Cerus stock opened at $1.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $265.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.00 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.75. Cerus Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.38 and a fifty-two week high of $2.54.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,055,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Cerus by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,319,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,813,000 after buying an additional 994,007 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC raised its position in Cerus by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 6,393,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,847,000 after buying an additional 387,603 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cerus by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,454,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,862,000 after buying an additional 39,072 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Cerus by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,506,000 after buying an additional 79,505 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cerus Company Profile

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.