Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CERS. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cerus presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Cerus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Cerus has a fifty-two week low of $1.12 and a fifty-two week high of $2.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $2.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.86. The firm has a market cap of $324.77 million, a PE ratio of -21.13 and a beta of 1.51.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $64.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.31 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 26.09% and a negative net margin of 7.58%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cerus will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 34,094 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total value of $68,528.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,912,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,844,876.74. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 55,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.06, for a total transaction of $113,763.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,195,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,463,535.46. The trade was a 4.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 352,041 shares of company stock valued at $708,170 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CERS. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 321.3% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 46,801 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 35,692 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cerus by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 309,168 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 69,087 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 53,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 17,336 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in Cerus by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 142,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 6,415 shares during the period. Finally, Kotler Kevin acquired a new position in Cerus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,084,000. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company dedicated to enhancing the safety of blood transfusions worldwide. Its flagship offering, the INTERCEPT Blood System, employs pathogen reduction technology designed to inactivate a broad spectrum of viruses, bacteria, and parasites in donated platelets and plasma. This approach aims to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections and improve blood component safety for patients.

The INTERCEPT platform integrates seamlessly into existing blood center workflows, providing a one-step treatment process for collected blood products.