BTIG Research reissued their buy rating on shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) in a research note published on Thursday morning, AnalystRatingsNetwork.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a buy rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. FBR & Co. reiterated a buy rating on shares of Cerus in a report on Sunday, January 17th. Wedbush downgraded shares of Cerus from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $6.50 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 17th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Cerus from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $8.13.

A number of hedge funds recently bought and sold shares of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Cerus by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 49,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Russell Frank Co bought a new stake in Cerus during the fourth quarter worth about $949,000. Finally, Salzhauer Michael increased its stake in Cerus by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 310,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,966,000 after buying an additional 24,064 shares during the period.

Shares of Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) opened at 5.26 on Thursday. The company’s market cap is $510.95 million. Cerus has a 12-month low of $3.82 and a 12-month high of $6.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.89 and a 200-day moving average of $5.31.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.15) EPS. Cerus’s revenue was down 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cerus will post ($0.64) EPS for the current year.

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company engaged in developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System for blood safety. The Company’s INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to target and inactivate blood-borne pathogens, such as viruses, including HIV, West Nile, SARS, hepatitis B and C; bacteria and parasites, as well as potentially harmful white blood cells, while preserving the therapeutic properties of platelet, plasma and red blood cell transfusion products. The Company has commercial rights for its INTERCEPT Blood System for three blood components: platelets, plasma and red blood cells. The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets or platelet system and the INTERCEPT Blood System for plasma or plasma system are being marketed and sold in a number of countries, including the United States, certain countries in Europe, The Commonwealth of Independent States (NASDAQ:CERS) and the Middle East. The INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells is in development-stage.

12 Month Chart for NASDAQ:CERS

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