Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

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

MRUS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $90.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, August 25th. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Merus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Alliance Global Partners assumed coverage on Merus in a research note on Monday, August 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Merus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th.

Merus Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Merus stock opened at $97.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.30 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.83. Merus has a 12-month low of $33.19 and a 12-month high of $97.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other Merus news, major shareholder A/S Genmab bought 150,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $14,627,115.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,734,624 shares in the company, valued at $6,958,258,528. This trade represents a 0.21% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total transaction of $163,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,002 shares in the company, valued at $1,057,292.20. This trade represents a 13.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 299.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Merus during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Merus by 10,400.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the third quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Merus by 955.3% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,794 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.