Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Sells $43,478.25 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $43,478.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,477,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,128.50. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Cerus Price Performance

Shares of CERS opened at $1.53 on Thursday. Cerus Co. has a 1-year low of $1.38 and a 1-year high of $2.54. The stock has a market cap of $284.26 million, a PE ratio of -13.91 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.75.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced 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). 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 analysts’ expectations of $50.81 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed 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 have recently bought and sold shares of CERS. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Cerus by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,877,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,432,000 after purchasing an additional 986,286 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Cerus by 2,084.7% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 470,178 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC increased its stake in Cerus by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 6,393,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,847,000 after purchasing an additional 387,603 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.