Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares jumped into heavy trading after a Zacks upgrade from "strong sell" to "hold," with 1,127,332 shares traded and the stock last at $2.9150 (previous close $2.72).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed—two Buy, one Hold and one Sell—giving an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.00 (notable upgrades from BTIG and Wall Street Zen).
• Insiders have sold 1,194,282 shares (about $2.11M) over the past 90 days, leaving insiders with 3.40% ownership while institutions own roughly 78.37% of the stock.

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Monday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a hold rating. 1,127,332 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the previous session's volume of 1,803,533 shares.The stock last traded at $2.9150 and had previously closed at $2.72.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. BTIG Research raised Cerus from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given 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 price target of $4.00.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In related news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 165,200 shares of Cerus 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 $274,232.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,747,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,901,138.84. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 101,740 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $168,888.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 777,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,419.26. The trade was a 11.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,194,282 shares of company stock valued at $2,106,290 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,986 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $17,147,000 after buying an additional 62,663 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 2.6% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,533,758 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $12,033,000 after buying an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cerus by 17.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $5,517,000 after acquiring an additional 519,301 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Cerus by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,423,741 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $4,993,000 after acquiring an additional 25,771 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Cerus by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,676,279 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,453,000 after acquiring an additional 92,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company's stock.

Cerus Stock Up 7.2%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.97 and a 200 day moving average of $1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $584.08 million, a P/E ratio of -58.92 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 15.18% and a negative net margin of 4.41%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cerus Corporation will post -0.05 EPS for the current fiscal 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.

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