Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)’s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $1.89 and traded as high as $2.07. Cerus shares last traded at $1.98, with a volume of 1,200,281 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Cerus Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $367.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 1.27.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $46.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.10 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.19% and a negative return on equity of 37.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Cerus Co. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total transaction of $35,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 162,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,596.74. This represents a 10.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Cerus by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 8,411 shares in the last quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 35,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 9,737 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.