Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Shares Up 5.6% – Here’s What Happened

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS)’s share price shot up 5.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $2.54 and last traded at $2.5650. 316,559 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,892,597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.43.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CERS. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target 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 Wednesday, March 25th. Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Up 1.9%

The firm has a market cap of $549.01 million, a P/E ratio of -54.80 and a beta of 1.62. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.04 and a 200-day moving average of $2.07.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Cerus news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 101,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total transaction of $168,888.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 777,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,419.26. The trade was a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 127,544 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,210,949 shares of company stock valued at $2,156,291. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 3.8% during the first quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,114,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,488,000 after buying an additional 148,812 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Cerus by 16.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 578,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 80,900 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Cerus by 56.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 12,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Cerus during the first quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.