Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) by 42.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,497 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Mersana Therapeutics were worth $37,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Mersana Therapeutics by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,274,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,109,000 after acquiring an additional 36,782 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mersana Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,114,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 166.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 468,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 293,115 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 452,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 74,092 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Mersana Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. 93.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mersana Therapeutics Trading Down 6.6 %

NASDAQ:MRSN opened at $1.97 on Tuesday. Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.07 and a 52-week high of $6.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.78. The company has a market capitalization of $241.68 million, a PE ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 1.47.

Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.72 million. Mersana Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 333.91% and a negative net margin of 349.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.47) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Mersana Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Mersana Therapeutics from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised shares of Mersana Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mersana Therapeutics

In other Mersana Therapeutics news, CEO Martin H. Jr. Huber sold 50,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $88,744.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,735.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mersana Therapeutics Company Profile

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients with unmet needs. The company develops XMT-1660, a B7-H4-targeted Dolasynthen ADC candidate; and XMT-2056, an immunosynthen ADC. It has research and development collaborations with Janssen Biotech, Inc, Ares Trading SA, Merck KGaA, and Asana BioSciences, LLC for the development of ADC product candidates.