Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $376,000 Investment in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 244,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CERS. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cerus by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,454,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,862,000 after buying an additional 39,072 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Cerus by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,169,487 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,341,000 after buying an additional 26,748 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Cerus by 16.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Cerus by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,797 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 5,721 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cerus Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.29 on Friday. Cerus Co. has a 12-month low of $1.12 and a 12-month high of $2.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $246.60 million, a PE ratio of -11.73 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.61.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $43.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.44 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 71,086 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total value of $103,074.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,238,672 shares in the company, valued at $6,146,074.40. This trade represents a 1.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 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 value 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. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 441,150 shares of company stock valued at $665,210 over the last ninety days. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Cerus

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.