Squarepoint Ops LLC Has $759,000 Stock Holdings in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS - Free Report) by 2,084.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 492,732 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 470,178 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Cerus worth $759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Cerus by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Cerus by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 128,836 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 59,156 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Cerus in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Cerus by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Cerus by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,169,487 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,341,000 after purchasing an additional 26,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Cerus Trading Up 9.4%

CERS traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $1.51. 4,340,811 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,303,659. The company's fifty day moving average price is $1.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $288.65 million, a PE ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.55. Cerus Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.12 and a fifty-two week high of $2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $43.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.44 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 71,086 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $103,074.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,238,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,146,074.40. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 23,147 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $33,563.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 912,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,323,280.15. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,167 shares of company stock worth $207,592. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Cerus Company Profile

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.