Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Short Interest Update

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,930,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the October 15th total of 7,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.18, for a total transaction of $61,879.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 590,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,286,995.70. The trade was a 4.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 390.4% during the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after buying an additional 1,170,060 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 726.1% during the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 313,522 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 275,569 shares during the period. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 87.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 505,020 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 235,082 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Cerus by 658.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 263,839 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 229,074 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Cerus by 16.2% in the 3rd 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. 78.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cerus Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ CERS traded down $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $1.67. 1,006,842 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,296,796. Cerus has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $310.14 million, a P/E ratio of -15.18 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

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.