Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 578,603 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lessened its position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,461,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 578,603 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. owned about 3.48% of Cerus worth $9,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,685,000 after buying an additional 69,950 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,506,000 after buying an additional 79,505 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 28,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after buying an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cerus Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CERS opened at $1.45 on Monday. Cerus Co. has a 52-week low of $1.38 and a 52-week high of $2.54. The company has a market capitalization of $269.40 million, a P/E ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. The business had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In other Cerus news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total value of $35,685.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,230,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,006,500. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 51,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $80,981.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 400,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,050.70. This represents a 11.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 297,983 shares of company stock worth $457,617. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Company Profile

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.