Citigroup Begins Coverage on Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN)

Citigroup began coverage on shares of Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) in a research report report published on Friday morning. The firm issued a buy rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MRSN. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Mersana Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Mersana Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.00.

Mersana Therapeutics Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of MRSN stock opened at $2.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $260.65 million, a P/E ratio of -3.46 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $2.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.04. Mersana Therapeutics has a one year low of $1.22 and a one year high of $6.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $12.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. Mersana Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 214.20% and a negative return on equity of 401.37%. The company’s revenue was up 63.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.35) EPS. Analysts predict that Mersana Therapeutics will post -0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mersana Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Martin H. Jr. Huber sold 50,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $88,744.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,735.52. This trade represents a 30.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,849 shares of company stock worth $129,184. 11.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mersana Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 11,695.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,303,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,200 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 104.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 993,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 507,453 shares during the last quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB raised its holdings in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 191.3% during the third quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB now owns 538,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 353,721 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 166.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 468,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,099,000 after buying an additional 293,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mersana Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $508,000. Institutional investors own 93.92% of the company’s stock.

About Mersana Therapeutics

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients with unmet needs. The company develops XMT-1660, a B7-H4-targeted Dolasynthen ADC candidate; and XMT-2056, an immunosynthen ADC. It has research and development collaborations with Janssen Biotech, Inc, Ares Trading SA, Merck KGaA, and Asana BioSciences, LLC for the development of ADC product candidates.