Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Director Eric Bjerkholt Sells 20,454 Shares

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of Cerus 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 directly owned 261,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $680,365.40. This trade represents a 7.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $2.59. The stock had a trading volume of 3,859,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,282,825. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.20. Cerus Corporation has a one year low of $1.15 and a one year high of $3.15. The firm has a market cap of $518.96 million, a PE ratio of -51.80 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. The company had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.68 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Cerus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new stake in Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Cerus by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 18,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 7,603 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Cerus in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Bingham Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cerus

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.