Ieq Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,169,487 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,748 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC owned 1.17% of Cerus worth $3,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CERS. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cerus by 726.1% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 313,522 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 275,569 shares during the last quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cerus by 87.1% in the third quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 505,020 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 235,082 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Cerus by 16.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,575,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 219,755 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Cerus in the third quarter valued at $353,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its holdings in Cerus by 1,182.9% in the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 132,628 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 122,290 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other Cerus news, Director Eric Bjerkholt sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 162,133 shares in the company, valued at $288,596.74. This represents a 10.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a report on Friday.

Cerus Stock Performance

NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.65 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.59. The company has a market capitalization of $306.42 million, a PE ratio of -15.00 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.83.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. As a group, analysts expect that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

About Cerus

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.