Insider Selling: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Sells $211,723.04 in Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 127,544 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $211,723.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,040,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,727,314.66. This trade represents a 10.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Kevin Dennis Green also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 5th, Kevin Dennis Green sold 55,225 shares of Cerus stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.06, for a total transaction of $113,763.50.
• On Friday, March 6th, Kevin Dennis Green sold 27,796 shares of Cerus stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total transaction of $55,869.96.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS stock opened at $1.80 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $2.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.88. Cerus Corporation has a 52 week low of $1.12 and a 52 week high of $2.96. The company has a market cap of $345.91 million, a P/E ratio of -22.50 and a beta of 1.51.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 7.58% and a negative return on equity of 26.09%. The company had revenue of $64.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.31 million. On average, research analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cerus by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,986 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,147,000 after buying an additional 62,663 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Cerus by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,533,758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,033,000 after buying an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 17.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,517,000 after buying an additional 519,301 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Cerus by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,423,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,993,000 after buying an additional 25,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,676,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,453,000 after acquiring an additional 92,577 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CERS. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research cut Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company dedicated to enhancing the safety of blood transfusions worldwide. Its flagship offering, the INTERCEPT Blood System, employs pathogen reduction technology designed to inactivate a broad spectrum of viruses, bacteria, and parasites in donated platelets and plasma. This approach aims to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections and improve blood component safety for patients.

The INTERCEPT platform integrates seamlessly into existing blood center workflows, providing a one-step treatment process for collected blood products.