Richard J. Benjamin Sells 18,949 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Stock

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

Cerus Trading Down 1.4 %

Cerus stock opened at $1.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $265.68 million, a P/E ratio of -13.00 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Cerus Co. has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.75.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its 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). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The firm had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.81 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CERS. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $32,055,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,319,841 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,813,000 after purchasing an additional 994,007 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Cerus by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,877,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,432,000 after buying an additional 986,286 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Cerus by 2,084.7% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 470,178 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC boosted its stake in Cerus by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 6,393,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,847,000 after buying an additional 387,603 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.