Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CERS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Freedom Broker initiated coverage on Cerus in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.50 price objective for the company. Three investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.25.

Cerus Stock Up 0.8%

Cerus stock opened at $2.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Cerus has a fifty-two week low of $1.17 and a fifty-two week high of $3.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.47. The firm has a market cap of $521.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -86.33 and a beta of 1.80.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $63.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.90 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 3.06%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cerus will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,454 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.60, for a total transaction of $53,180.40. Following the sale, the director owned 261,679 shares in the company, valued at $680,365.40. The trade was a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William Greenman sold 101,919 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at $14,855,925.84. This trade represents a 1.98% 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. Insiders sold 252,737 shares of company stock valued at $737,292 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Cerus by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 37,051 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 4,916 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its holdings in Cerus by 48.6% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 15,064 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 4,926 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Cerus by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 507,455 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,365 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 142,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 6,415 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in shares of Cerus by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 103,192 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $188,000 after buying an additional 6,651 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.