Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 142.42% from the company’s previous close.

Cerus Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of CERS stock opened at $1.65 on Friday. Cerus has a 12 month low of $1.38 and a 12 month high of $2.59. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $1.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.83. The company has a market cap of $306.42 million, a PE ratio of -15.00 and a beta of 1.29.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($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 $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. Equities analysts predict that Cerus will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $35,600.00. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 2,084.7% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 470,178 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 249.5% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 254,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 181,400 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Cerus by 121.6% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 595,234 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $917,000 after purchasing an additional 326,605 shares during the period. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Cerus by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 129,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 36,488 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cerus by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 50,817 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 16,720 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cerus Company 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.