Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Mereo BioPharma Group (NASDAQ:MREO)

Mereo BioPharma Group plc – Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:MREO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 15,681 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,154% compared to the average volume of 1,250 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Mereo BioPharma Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Mereo BioPharma Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Mereo BioPharma Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Mereo BioPharma Group from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.50.

Mereo BioPharma Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MREO opened at $2.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.02. Mereo BioPharma Group has a one year low of $1.47 and a one year high of $3.92. The company has a market capitalization of $367.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.50 and a beta of 0.44.

Mereo BioPharma Group (NASDAQ:MREO) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mereo BioPharma Group will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Mereo BioPharma Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MREO. Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Mereo BioPharma Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,924,000. Tejara Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Mereo BioPharma Group by 8.8% in the first quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 2,521,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,673,000 after acquiring an additional 204,239 shares during the period. Forefront Analytics LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mereo BioPharma Group by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Forefront Analytics LLC now owns 47,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 12,877 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Mereo BioPharma Group by 53.4% in the 1st quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 7,819,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,722,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mereo BioPharma Group by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC now owns 4,635,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,429,000 after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares during the period. 62.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mereo BioPharma Group Company Profile

Mereo BioPharma Group plc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes therapeutics for the treatment of oncology and rare diseases in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It develops Etigilimab (MPH-313), an antibody T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of tumors.