Short Interest in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Expands By 16.2%

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,800,000 shares, a growth of 16.2% from the December 15th total of 6,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Cerus Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ CERS traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $1.79. 1,057,729 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,131,067. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.89. Cerus has a 1 year low of $1.38 and a 1 year high of $2.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Insider Transactions 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 transaction of $35,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 162,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $288,596.74. This represents a 10.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cerus

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CERS. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Cerus by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 8,411 shares in the last quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Cerus in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its stake in Cerus by 38.4% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 35,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 9,737 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cerus during the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Cerus during the second quarter worth about $97,000. 78.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.