Avanza Fonder AB Buys Shares of 2,749 Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,749 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of Merus by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 48,268 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after buying an additional 10,842 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Merus during the 4th quarter valued at $347,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Merus by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Merus by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 76,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,210,000 after purchasing an additional 28,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 450,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,922,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 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 equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRUS shares. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, May 19th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.83.

Merus Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MRUS opened at $55.39 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.02 and a beta of 1.04. Merus has a 52-week low of $33.19 and a 52-week high of $62.98.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $26.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share 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.