Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Shares Purchased by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 238,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,458 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.13% of Cerus worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CERS. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Cerus by 51.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 8,411 shares during the period. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Cerus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $169,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 51,254 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $80,981.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 400,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,050.70. This trade represents a 11.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 10.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 165,713 shares of company stock worth $264,812 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Price Performance

Shares of CERS opened at $1.51 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.79. The stock has a market cap of $280.54 million, a PE ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.56. Cerus Co. has a 1-year low of $1.38 and a 1-year high of $2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

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.