2,054 Shares in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Purchased by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE bought a new position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,054 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,009 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,714,000 after acquiring an additional 323,518 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $555,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 90.6% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 521,339 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $30,848,000 after buying an additional 247,813 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in shares of Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $53,377,000. Finally, Nicholas Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in Merus in the second quarter worth approximately $4,763,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group started coverage on Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.70.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $46.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.79 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.94. Merus has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.11 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merus will post -3.88 EPS for the current 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.