ARK Investment Management LLC Purchases 2,589,721 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Cerus worth $32,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 51.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 8,411 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 8,458 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 13.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 93,763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 11,338 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $35,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 162,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,596.74. The trade was a 10.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of CERS stock opened at $1.63 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.82. Cerus Co. has a one year low of $1.38 and a one year high of $2.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.71 million, a PE ratio of -14.82 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Cerus 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.