Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Sets New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $2.89 and last traded at $2.7850, with a volume of 1308480 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $2.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERS has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cerus presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $526.33 million, a PE ratio of -34.25 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.60.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $60.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.12 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 8.01% and a negative return on equity of 27.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew 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 grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 291.6% during 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 12.0% during the first 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 acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Cerus by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 251,907 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 13,112 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.