Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Craig Hallum

Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $5.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CERS. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $2.50 target price on shares of Cerus in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $3.00 price target on shares of Cerus in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th.

Cerus Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Cerus stock opened at $1.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.24 million, a PE ratio of -8.33 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.07 and its 200 day moving average is $1.84. Cerus has a 1 year low of $1.21 and a 1 year high of $3.08.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 23.98% and a negative return on equity of 67.17%. The business had revenue of $46.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.80 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Cerus will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other Cerus news, SVP Carol Moore sold 20,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.02, for a total transaction of $41,650.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 490,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $991,058.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 29,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.40, for a total value of $70,507.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 478,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,346.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Carol Moore sold 20,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.02, for a total transaction of $41,650.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 490,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,058.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 177,516 shares of company stock worth $372,912. 7.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,870,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,321,000 after acquiring an additional 121,427 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 703,983 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 100,509 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter worth $180,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 183,891 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 54,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

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.