Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Purchases New Position in Cerus Corporation $CERS

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new stake in Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 253,083 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. owned about 0.13% of Cerus as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cerus by 291.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,429,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,064,133 shares during the last quarter. Kotler Kevin purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $2,084,000. UBS Group AG grew its position 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 valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 793,244 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $1,076,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Cerus by 17.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.60, for a total value of $53,180.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,679 shares in the company, valued at $680,365.40. The trade was a 7.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $124,535.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,694,348 shares in the company, valued at $4,981,383.12. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 256,071 shares of company stock valued at $747,894 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BTIG Research raised Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS opened at $2.87 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.40. The firm has a market cap of $575.06 million, a PE ratio of -57.40 and a beta of 1.77. Cerus Corporation has a 12-month low of $1.15 and a 12-month high of $3.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

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.