Peter B. Silverman Sells 10,000 Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Stock

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Merus Price Performance

MRUS traded down $1.03 on Friday, hitting $59.17. 1,163,148 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 796,041. Merus has a 12 month low of $19.81 and a 12 month high of $61.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.73 and a beta of 1.10.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. Equities research analysts expect that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Merus by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 774,953 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,273,000 after purchasing an additional 180,397 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Merus in the 3rd quarter worth about $401,000. Corton Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 33.6% during the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 12,420 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 3,127 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 47.3% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 239,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,644,000 after purchasing an additional 76,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Braidwell LP grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 23.2% during the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,901,337 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,834,000 after purchasing an additional 358,175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRUS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.90.

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.