Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases New Shares in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 16,886 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Cerus by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 209,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cerus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $376,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cerus by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,814,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,055,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,721 shares during the last quarter. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,477,330 shares in the company, valued at $2,142,128.50. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.55, for a total value of $35,685.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,230,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,006,500. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 441,150 shares of company stock worth $665,210 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $263.82 million, a PE ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cerus Co. has a 12-month low of $1.38 and a 12-month high of $2.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1.68 and a 200 day moving average of $1.72.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $50.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.81 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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.