10,403 Shares in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Bought by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,403 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $616,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter worth $550,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 63.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 102,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,633,000 after buying an additional 40,060 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 138.4% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 40,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,113,000 after buying an additional 23,503 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter worth $1,320,000. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,444,000 after buying an additional 444,444 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $317,340.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,335.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Merus from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.20.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $53.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of -19.14 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a 1 year low of $19.81 and a 1 year high of $61.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.51.

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