Insider Selling: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Cerus insider Chrystal Jensen sold 30,000 shares at an average price of $2.98, worth $89,400, reducing her holdings by 3.1% to 936,657 shares. She also sold 24,329 shares in June.
• Cerus shares declined 0.3% to $2.97, while the company reported quarterly revenue of $63.3 million and an adjusted EPS loss of $0.01, in line with analyst expectations.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, resulting in a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $4.00. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company, with several firms recently increasing their stakes.

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) insider Chrystal Jensen sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.98, for a total value of $89,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 936,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,791,237.86. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Chrystal Jensen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 30th, Chrystal Jensen sold 24,329 shares of Cerus stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $71,527.26.

Cerus Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CERS traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $2.97. The stock had a trading volume of 2,967,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,095,037. The company has a market cap of $598.51 million, a P/E ratio of -99.00 and a beta of 1.81. Cerus Corporation has a 12 month low of $1.15 and a 12 month high of $3.47. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $2.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $63.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a negative return on equity of 10.19%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CERS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Cerus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BTIG Research raised Cerus from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $4.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cerus during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,868,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,026,000. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Cerus by 1,154.3% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 1,491,119 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,354,000 after buying an additional 1,372,243 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 291.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,064,133 shares during the period. Finally, Kotler Kevin bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,084,000. 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.

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