HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 7,231 Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merus by 750.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the 3rd quarter worth $103,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus in the 2nd quarter worth $237,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus during the second quarter worth $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, December 9th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target (down previously from $111.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merus presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.64.

Merus Trading Down 0.6 %

Merus stock opened at $41.85 on Monday. Merus has a 1-year low of $25.83 and a 1-year high of $61.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.59 and a beta of 1.07.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merus

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.