Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 6,633 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,633 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Cerus were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cerus by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,685,000 after buying an additional 69,950 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Cerus by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,738,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,506,000 after purchasing an additional 79,505 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 16.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 219,755 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Cerus by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 28,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cerus by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,055,000 after buying an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 60,656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $95,836.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 493,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,301.96. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $43,478.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,477,330 shares in the company, valued at $2,142,128.50. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 441,150 shares of company stock worth $665,210. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cerus Price Performance

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.53 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.74. 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 company has a market cap of $284.26 million, a PE ratio of -13.91 and a beta of 1.56. Cerus Co. has a 52-week low of $1.38 and a 52-week high of $2.54.

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

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.