Cerus Corporation $CERS Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,251,093 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 425,186 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Cerus were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cerus during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Price Performance

CERS stock opened at $2.92 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $2.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $585.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.40 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.15 and a 52-week high of $3.15.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 15.18% and a negative net margin of 4.41%.The company had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.68 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.60, for a total transaction of $53,180.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 261,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $680,365.40. This trade represents a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 16,667 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total transaction of $50,001.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,656,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,970,121. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 53,788 shares of company stock valued at $153,182 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Cerus Profile

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.