Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 975,218 Shares of Cerus Corporation $CERS

Key Points

• Amova Asset Management Americas cut its Cerus stake by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 975,218 shares and leaving it with 4,709,959 shares worth about $9.66 million.
• Cerus insiders also sold stock, including CFO Kevin Dennis Green and CEO William Mariner Greenman, with total insider sales of 875,575 shares valued at about $1.5 million over the last quarter.
• Analysts remain mixed but slightly improved on Cerus: the stock currently has an average Hold rating with a $4.00 price target, while recent reports included upgrades from Zacks, Wall Street Zen, and BTIG.

Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. lowered its position in Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS - Free Report) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,709,959 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 975,218 shares during the quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. owned 2.45% of Cerus worth $9,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CERS. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cerus by 291.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,133 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 227.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,354,000 after buying an additional 793,244 shares in the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,076,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $5,517,000 after buying an additional 519,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 156.5% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 749,564 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 457,347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 127,544 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 $1,727,314.66. This trade represents a 10.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 447,757 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $743,276.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,998,493 shares in the company, valued at $8,297,498.38. This represents a 8.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 875,575 shares of company stock valued at $1,498,122 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CERS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Zacks Research raised Cerus from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research raised Cerus from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $4.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cerus presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ CERS opened at $2.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.31 and a 200-day moving average of $2.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.95 million, a P/E ratio of -51.60 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus Corporation has a 52 week low of $1.15 and a 52 week high of $3.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 15.18% and a negative net margin of 4.41%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Cerus 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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