Northern Trust Corp Increases Position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,634,780 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,878 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.88% of Cerus worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CERS. Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 23,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,006,500. This trade represents a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,128.50. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 441,150 shares of company stock valued at $665,210. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CERS opened at $1.25 on Friday. Cerus Co. has a 52 week low of $1.12 and a 52 week high of $2.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1.34 and a 200 day moving average of $1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.36 and a beta of 1.58.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $43.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.44 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 earnings per share 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.