Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $411,000 Stock Holdings in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 266,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 46,916 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.14% of Cerus worth $411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Cerus by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,797 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Cerus by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Cerus by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,754,540 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,053,000 after purchasing an additional 8,707 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Cerus by 13.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 93,763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 11,338 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 18,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $27,476.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 715,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,982.50. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total value of $43,478.25. Following the completion of 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. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 441,150 shares of company stock worth $665,210 over the last quarter. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cerus Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59. Cerus Co. has a 52 week low of $1.38 and a 52 week high of $2.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.54 million, a P/E ratio of -13.09 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.69 and a 200-day moving average of $1.72.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The company had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.81 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Cerus 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.