Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stake in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 11.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,136 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Merus were worth $543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Commodore Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Merus by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 4,747,373 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $130,553,000 after purchasing an additional 319,301 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP grew its stake in Merus by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 2,373,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $65,275,000 after acquiring an additional 376,861 shares in the last quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP grew its stake in Merus by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 1,509,007 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $67,951,000 after acquiring an additional 373,782 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new stake in Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $53,377,000. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merus by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,444,000 after acquiring an additional 444,444 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Merus from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $50.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.12 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a one year low of $19.81 and a one year high of $61.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.97.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $7.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 36.33% and a negative net margin of 476.41%. As a group, research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merus Profile

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1.