Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Short Interest Update

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 12,738,396 shares, a drop of 35.3% from the June 15th total of 19,696,885 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,078,951 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $124,535.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,694,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,981,383.12. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 33,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $99,007.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,062,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,122,832.72. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 256,071 shares of company stock valued at $747,894. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CERS. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,218,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,217,000 after buying an additional 39,310 shares in the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,114,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,488,000 after acquiring an additional 148,812 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Cerus by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 578,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 80,900 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Cerus by 56.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 12,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Cerus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cerus currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

Cerus Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CERS opened at $3.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $627.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -62.60 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus has a 12 month low of $1.15 and a 12 month high of $3.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Cerus Company 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.