Insider Selling: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO Sells $743,276.62 in Stock

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 447,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.66, for a total value of $743,276.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,998,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,297,498.38. This trade represents a 8.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

William Mariner Greenman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 6th, William Mariner Greenman sold 78,187 shares of Cerus stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.01, for a total transaction of $157,155.87.

Cerus Stock Performance

CERS opened at $1.80 on Thursday. Cerus Corporation has a 12-month low of $1.12 and a 12-month high of $2.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $345.91 million, a PE ratio of -22.50 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $2.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.88.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cerus by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,986 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,147,000 after acquiring an additional 62,663 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 8,533,758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,033,000 after purchasing an additional 213,917 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,470,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,517,000 after purchasing an additional 519,301 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,423,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,993,000 after purchasing an additional 25,771 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Cerus by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,676,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,453,000 after buying an additional 92,577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CERS shares. Wall Street Zen cut Cerus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cerus in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce”.

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.