Sepio Capital LP Has $319,000 Stock Position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Sepio Capital LP decreased its stake in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 95.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 147,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,349,907 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP owned about 0.08% of Cerus worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERS. Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cerus in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. bought a new position in Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 852,420 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 539,633 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 127,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Cerus by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 188,702 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 14,433 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CERS shares. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Cerus in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $2.50 price objective on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Cerus from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd.

Insider Activity at Cerus

In other Cerus news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 29,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.40, for a total value of $70,507.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 478,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,346.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Cerus news, insider Richard J. Benjamin sold 29,378 shares of Cerus 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 directly owns 478,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,346.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 21,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.97, for a total transaction of $42,349.09. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 618,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,218,937.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,516 shares of company stock worth $372,912 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Cerus Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CERS traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $1.84. The stock had a trading volume of 407,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,159,169. Cerus Co. has a 52 week low of $1.21 and a 52 week high of $3.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1.82 and its 200 day moving average is $1.92. The stock has a market cap of $340.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.82 and a beta of 1.31.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.01). Cerus had a negative net margin of 19.27% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm had revenue of $38.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.40 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cerus 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.