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

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

Several analysts have recently commented on MRUS shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, September 29th. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Lifesci Capital reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Truist Financial cut shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $88.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $101.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th.

Insider Activity at Merus

In other news, major shareholder A/S Genmab bought 1,052,806 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $102,122,182.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 73,884,293 shares in the company, valued at $7,166,776,421. The trade was a 1.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,421,216 shares of company stock valued at $234,857,952. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Merus by 15.7% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,674 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merus during the third quarter worth about $3,137,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 66.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 26,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 10,400 shares in the last quarter. Atle Fund Management AB grew its position in shares of Merus by 69.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atle Fund Management AB now owns 59,889 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,150,000 after purchasing an additional 24,597 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Merus by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 78,280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,295,000 after purchasing an additional 16,280 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merus Price Performance

NASDAQ MRUS opened at $90.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.30. Merus has a one year low of $33.19 and a one year high of $97.14. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a PE ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.06.

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.