Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO Sells $103,074.70 in Stock

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 71,086 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $103,074.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,238,672 shares in the company, valued at $6,146,074.40. This represents a 1.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

William Mariner Greenman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 7th, William Mariner Greenman sold 60,984 shares of Cerus stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total transaction of $91,476.00.
• On Tuesday, March 4th, William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of Cerus stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total transaction of $35,685.65.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS remained flat at $1.45 during trading hours on Monday. 1,979,196 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,302,541. The firm has a market cap of $269.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1.72 and its 200-day moving average is $1.76. Cerus Co. has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.54.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The firm had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.81 million. As a group, analysts predict that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Cerus by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,797 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cerus by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 86,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 6,665 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Cerus by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 8,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Cerus by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,754,540 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,053,000 after acquiring an additional 8,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of Cerus in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.