Cerity Partners LLC Has $71,000 Position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 28.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,156 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Cerus were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockport Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 18,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $27,476.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 715,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,982.50. This trade represents a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $43,478.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,477,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,142,128.50. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 441,150 shares of company stock worth $665,210 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Price Performance

Cerus stock opened at $1.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.64. Cerus Co. has a 12 month low of $1.12 and a 12 month high of $2.54. The company has a market cap of $250.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.27 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price 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.