Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires Shares of 52,913 Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 52,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Cerus during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cerus during the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 33,999 shares of Cerus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total transaction of $50,998.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,507,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,972.50. The trade was a 2.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total value of $35,685.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,230,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,006,500. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 441,150 shares of company stock valued at $665,210. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of Cerus in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Cerus Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of CERS opened at $1.39 on Tuesday. Cerus Co. has a 1-year low of $1.35 and a 1-year high of $2.54. The company has a market capitalization of $258.25 million, a P/E ratio of -12.64 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.71.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.81 million. Cerus had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 11.60%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.