Insider Buying: Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Major Shareholder Acquires 142,610 Shares of Stock

Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) major shareholder A/S Genmab acquired 142,610 shares of Merus stock in a transaction on Friday, December 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $13,833,170.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 72,828,509 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,365,373. This represents a 0.20% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

A/S Genmab also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, December 24th, A/S Genmab purchased 96,082 shares of Merus stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $9,319,954.00.
• On Tuesday, December 23rd, A/S Genmab purchased 561,042 shares of Merus stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $54,421,074.00.
• On Monday, December 22nd, A/S Genmab acquired 15,710 shares of Merus stock. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,523,870.00.
• On Friday, December 19th, A/S Genmab bought 66,264 shares of Merus stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $6,427,608.00.
• On Thursday, December 18th, A/S Genmab bought 212,177 shares of Merus stock. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $20,581,169.00.
• On Wednesday, December 17th, A/S Genmab purchased 150,795 shares of Merus stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $14,627,115.00.
• On Tuesday, December 16th, A/S Genmab acquired 120,752 shares of Merus stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $11,712,944.00.

Merus Price Performance

NASDAQ MRUS traded down $6.92 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $90.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,726,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,265,370. Merus N.V. has a 12 month low of $33.19 and a 12 month high of $97.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.50. The company has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.06.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merus

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merus by 12.3% in the third quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,542,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $333,526,000 after purchasing an additional 386,945 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Merus by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,369,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,831,000 after buying an additional 1,679,777 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Merus by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,225,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $117,048,000 after buying an additional 351,616 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in Merus by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,132,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $200,774,000 after buying an additional 90,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Merus by 8.5% during the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,674,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $157,623,000 after acquiring an additional 131,267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRUS. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, September 29th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup lowered Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group cut Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.56.

About Merus

Merus NV is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of bispecific antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Utilizing its proprietary Biclonics® platform, Merus engineers fully human bispecific antibodies designed to engage immune cells and tumor targets simultaneously. The company’s research efforts are aimed at creating novel therapies with optimized potency, selectivity and safety profiles.

The Merus pipeline encompasses multiple Biclonics candidates in various stages of preclinical and clinical development.