Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Merus N.V. $MRUS

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 19,901 shares during the quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.06% of Merus worth $2,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Merus by 26.3% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 78,280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,295,000 after acquiring an additional 16,280 shares during the period. Atle Fund Management AB lifted its position in shares of Merus by 69.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atle Fund Management AB now owns 59,889 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,150,000 after purchasing an additional 24,597 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Merus by 324.1% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,935 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 2,243 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Merus by 2,153.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 631 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Merus by 30.0% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of Merus stock opened at $94.15 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.12 and a beta of 1.26. Merus N.V. has a 52 week low of $33.19 and a 52 week high of $94.56.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.17) by ($1.06). The company had revenue of $8.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.28% and a negative net margin of 685.64%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merus N.V. will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 48,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,792,500 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRUS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Alliance Global Partners initiated coverage on Merus in a research note on Monday, August 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. William Blair lowered shares of Merus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright cut shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.88.

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.