Short Interest in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) Rises By 7.9%

Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,930,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the October 15th total of 7,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 28,385 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.18, for a total value of $61,879.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 590,365 shares in the company, valued at $1,286,995.70. This represents a 4.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cerus

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CERS. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus during the first quarter worth approximately $566,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Cerus by 10.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 73,372 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 7,209 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,873 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 8,982 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Cerus by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,186,564 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 78,824 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.37% of the company's stock.

Cerus Price Performance

NASDAQ CERS traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $1.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,496,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,012,547. Cerus has a twelve month low of $1.38 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Cerus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

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.

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