Hood River Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,170,060 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 390.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,469,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,170,060 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.79% of Cerus worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CERS. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Cerus by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,530,019 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,105,000 after buying an additional 656,971 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cerus by 2.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,750,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,649,000 after buying an additional 182,629 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Cerus by 4.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,873 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 8,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Cerus by 124.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 218,647 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 121,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Cerus stock opened at $1.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $329.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.47 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $2.17 and its 200 day moving average is $1.95. Cerus Co. has a twelve month low of $1.21 and a twelve month high of $2.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $45.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.50 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 14.15% and a negative return on equity of 44.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Cerus Co. will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In other Cerus news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.18, for a total transaction of $61,879.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 590,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,286,995.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Cerus news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.18, for a total transaction of $61,879.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 590,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,286,995.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 21,605 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.50, for a total transaction of $54,012.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 438,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,095,017.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cerus 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.