Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Purchased by Wexford Capital LP

Wexford Capital LP boosted its position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,386 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP owned about 0.06% of Merus worth $1,698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Merus by 4,583.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 57,234 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 56,012 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in Merus by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 48,268 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after purchasing an additional 10,842 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Merus in the fourth quarter valued at about $347,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Merus by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Merus by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,954 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,951,000 after purchasing an additional 8,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MRUS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.15.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $41.56 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -10.52 and a beta of 0.94. Merus has a fifty-two week low of $33.19 and a fifty-two week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.17) by ($0.23). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $26.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merus Company 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.