Marshall Wace LLP Buys 137,596 Shares of Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) by 358.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 176,029 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,596 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.14% of Mersana Therapeutics worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 36,782 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 1.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,448,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 20,400 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 500,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 28,650 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Mersana Therapeutics by 166.7% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 468,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,099,000 after buying an additional 293,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 19.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 452,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 74,092 shares in the last quarter. 93.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRSN. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Mersana Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Mersana Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Mersana Therapeutics from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mersana Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Martin H. Jr. Huber sold 50,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $88,744.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,327 shares in the company, valued at $204,735.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 68,965 shares of company stock worth $125,605 over the last three months. 11.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mersana Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Mersana Therapeutics stock opened at $1.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.49 million, a P/E ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.37. Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1.07 and a 12 month high of $6.28.

Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). Mersana Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 333.91% and a negative net margin of 349.98%. The company had revenue of $2.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.72 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.47) earnings per share. Mersana Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was down 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

Mersana Therapeutics 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.