Wasatch Advisors LP Sells 1,897,237 Shares of Cerus Corporation $CERS

Wasatch Advisors LP decreased its holdings in Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) by 35.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,383,899 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,897,237 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP’s holdings in Cerus were worth $9,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its position in Cerus by 152.4% during the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 104,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 62,854 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cerus by 291.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,064,133 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cerus by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,222,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 344,395 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Cerus by 6.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 268,946 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 17,039 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chrystal Jensen sold 24,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $71,527.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 966,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,971.58. The trade was a 2.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $99,007.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,062,188 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,832.72. This represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 239,404 shares of company stock valued at $697,893. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cerus Trading Up 5.4%

NASDAQ CERS opened at $2.71 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.42. Cerus Corporation has a one year low of $1.15 and a one year high of $3.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $546.12 million, a P/E ratio of -90.33 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $63.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 3.06%. Research analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current 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.