16,886 Shares in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Bought by Cibc World Markets Corp

Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,886 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,685,000 after buying an additional 69,950 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cerus by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,506,000 after purchasing an additional 79,505 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Cerus by 16.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after purchasing an additional 219,755 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 28,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $32,055,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Cerus Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Cerus stock opened at $1.42 on Friday. Cerus Co. has a 12-month low of $1.38 and a 12-month high of $2.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Insider Activity at Cerus

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 60,656 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $95,836.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 493,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,301.96. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total transaction of $35,685.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,230,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,006,500. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 441,150 shares of company stock worth $665,210. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.