Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Insider Richard J. Benjamin Sells 26,139 Shares

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 26,139 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total value of $39,208.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 734,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,102,198.50. The trade was a 3.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Cerus Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.47 on Tuesday. Cerus Co. has a 1-year low of $1.38 and a 1-year high of $2.54. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.11 million, a P/E ratio of -13.36 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.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced 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 return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. The business had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.81 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted 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 valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 6,633 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,665 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 51.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 8,411 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% 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.