Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives $93.56 Consensus PT from Analysts

Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.5625.

A number of analysts have weighed in on MRUS shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $97.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, September 29th. Truist Financial cut Merus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Merus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th.

Merus Stock Down 7.1%

Merus stock opened at $90.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.06. Merus has a 52-week low of $33.19 and a 52-week high of $97.14.

Insider Activity at Merus

In other news, major shareholder A/S Genmab acquired 1,052,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $102,122,182.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 73,884,293 shares in the company, valued at $7,166,776,421. This trade represents a 1.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 8,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.92, for a total transaction of $796,136.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,055,311.84. This trade represents a 43.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 2,421,216 shares of company stock worth $234,857,952 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Merus by 299.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Merus in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 10,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Merus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Merus during the third quarter worth about $114,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merus Company Profile

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.