Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Stock Price Down 7.4% – Here’s What Happened

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) shares fell 7.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $2.85 and last traded at $2.8140. 373,968 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 1,948,423 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CERS. BTIG Research upgraded Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

Cerus Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $541.00 million, a P/E ratio of -54.00 and a beta of 1.76.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 15.18% and a negative net margin of 4.41%.The company had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.68 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 447,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 4,998,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,297,498.38. This represents a 8.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 165,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $274,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,747,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,138.84. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,227,616 shares of company stock worth $2,206,292 in the last 90 days. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 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.