Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $36,000 Stock Position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 27.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 6,209 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Cerus were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cerus by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,914,326 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,175,000 after buying an additional 852,420 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Cerus by 7.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,010,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,466,000 after buying an additional 1,005,033 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cerus by 13.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,453,051 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,630,000 after buying an additional 1,222,273 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors Inc. raised its position in Cerus by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 8,425,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,257,000 after buying an additional 236,787 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC raised its position in Cerus by 33.2% during the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 7,258,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,759,000 after buying an additional 1,807,738 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cerus

In other news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 62,315 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.06, for a total transaction of $128,368.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,244,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,684,477.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 62,315 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.06, for a total transaction of $128,368.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,244,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,684,477.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Carol Moore sold 20,619 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.02, for a total value of $41,650.38. Following 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 quarter, insiders sold 177,516 shares of company stock worth $372,912. 7.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Cerus in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $3.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $2.50 target price on shares of Cerus in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

Cerus Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CERS opened at $1.64 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $297.30 million, a P/E ratio of -7.81 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $2.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.84. Cerus Co. has a one year low of $1.21 and a one year high of $3.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

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