Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 279,425 Shares of Merus N.V. $MRUS

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its position in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,249,162 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 279,425 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 1.65% of Merus worth $117,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. CWM LLC lifted its position in Merus by 299.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the third quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, NTV Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Merus in the 3rd quarter worth about $212,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Merus Trading Down 7.1%

MRUS opened at $90.00 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $93.49 and its 200 day moving average is $83.21. The company has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.06. Merus N.V. has a 12-month low of $33.19 and a 12-month high of $97.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MRUS shares. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merus currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 8,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.92, for a total transaction of $796,136.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 11,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,311.84. The trade was a 43.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder A/S Genmab acquired 1,052,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $97.00 per share, for a total transaction of $102,122,182.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 73,884,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,166,776,421. This trade represents a 1.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have purchased 2,421,216 shares of company stock worth $234,857,952 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.