Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) Short Interest Down 35.3% in June

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 12,738,396 shares, a decrease of 35.3% from the June 15th total of 19,696,885 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,078,951 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research raised Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.10. The stock had a trading volume of 784,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,116,530. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $622.15 million, a PE ratio of -62.10 and a beta of 1.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $2.79 and its 200 day moving average is $2.37. Cerus has a twelve month low of $1.15 and a twelve month high of $3.47.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, research analysts forecast that Cerus will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 101,919 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $299,641.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,053,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,855,925.84. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $124,535.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,694,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,981,383.12. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 256,071 shares of company stock worth $747,894. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 worth $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,064,133 shares during the last quarter. Kotler Kevin acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,084,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Cerus by 227.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,142,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 793,244 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,076,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 519,301 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.