Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Acquired by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC lifted its position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 10.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,873,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 648,994 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 10.04% of Merus worth $343,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 750.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE acquired a new stake in Merus during the 3rd quarter worth $103,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Merus by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Merus during the 2nd quarter worth $237,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merus in the second quarter valued at $242,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group assumed coverage on Merus in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.45.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $44.84 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of -11.35 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a 1 year low of $22.27 and a 1 year high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $11.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.11 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merus

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1.