Senvest Management LLC Sells 1,271,126 Shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Senvest Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS - Free Report) by 17.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,006,376 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 1,271,126 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC owned about 3.23% of Cerus worth $10,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 451.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 14,879 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 12,179 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,983,963 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $18,870,000 after purchasing an additional 113,292 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 4.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,873 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 8,982 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 4.4% during the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,696,560 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $5,096,000 after purchasing an additional 114,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Cerus by 7.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,186,564 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 78,824 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cerus

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 590,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,286,995.70. This represents a 4.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

Cerus Trading Up 7.2 %

CERS stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $1.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,037,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,912,455. Cerus Co. has a one year low of $1.38 and a one year high of $2.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1.75 and a 200-day moving average of $1.92. The stock has a market cap of $332.43 million, a PE ratio of -16.27 and a beta of 1.20.

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.