NEOS Investment Management LLC Acquires 1,425 Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,491 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Merus were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BIT Capital GmbH raised its position in Merus by 167.5% during the fourth quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 21,402 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,402 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Merus during the 4th quarter valued at about $433,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Merus by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 3,155 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Merus by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,954 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,951,000 after purchasing an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,020 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MRUS shares. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Merus in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Merus from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merus currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.31.

Merus Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $44.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of -11.29 and a beta of 1.15. Merus has a 12-month low of $37.77 and a 12-month high of $61.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.03.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. The company had revenue of $9.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.57 million. Research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.85 EPS 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.