Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Makes New Investment in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 52,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,342,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Merus by 37.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Merus by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at $108,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Merus by 352.3% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 5,204 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Merus from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merus presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.90.

Merus Price Performance

MRUS stock traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $54.32. 359,779 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 795,131. Merus has a 12 month low of $19.81 and a 12 month high of $61.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative return on equity of 44.13% and a negative net margin of 390.36%. The company had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.94 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.84, for a total transaction of $422,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,995.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,392,792. Insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

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.