Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells $50,998.50 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 33,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total value of $50,998.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,507,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,972.50. This trade represents a 2.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Cerus Stock Down 2.6 %

CERS stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $1.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,812,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,306,882. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $273.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.36 and a beta of 1.56. Cerus Co. has a 52 week low of $1.38 and a 52 week high of $2.54.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share 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, equities analysts predict that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,685,000 after buying an additional 69,950 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $6,506,000 after buying an additional 79,505 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Cerus by 16.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Cerus by 12.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 28,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after buying an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by 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.