Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Acquires New Stake in Cerus Corporation $CERS

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. acquired a new stake in Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 253,083 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CERS. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in Cerus during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Cerus by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 18,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 7,603 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cerus during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Bingham Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cerus during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cerus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CERS opened at $2.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Cerus Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $1.15 and a fifty-two week high of $3.47. The stock has a market cap of $575.06 million, a PE ratio of -57.40 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.40.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.68 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a negative return on equity of 15.18%. Analysts expect that Cerus Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Cerus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research raised Cerus from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Cerus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 42,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $124,535.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,694,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,981,383.12. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO William Mariner Greenman sold 101,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $299,641.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,053,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,855,925.84. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 256,071 shares of company stock valued at $747,894 in the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cerus Profile

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company dedicated to enhancing the safety of blood transfusions worldwide. Its flagship offering, the INTERCEPT Blood System, employs pathogen reduction technology designed to inactivate a broad spectrum of viruses, bacteria, and parasites in donated platelets and plasma. This approach aims to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections and improve blood component safety for patients.

The INTERCEPT platform integrates seamlessly into existing blood center workflows, providing a one-step treatment process for collected blood products.