Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Gap Down to $51.77

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $51.77, but opened at $50.66. Merus shares last traded at $50.48, with a volume of 3,679 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.20.

Merus Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $53.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.22 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 45.76%. The business had revenue of $7.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.64 million. On average, analysts expect that Merus will post -3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at $372,646.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,646.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,392,792. Company insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Merus by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the 1st quarter worth about $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $108,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the second quarter valued at approximately $237,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.