Fmr LLC Purchases 25,595 Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

FMR LLC grew its holdings in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,899,521 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,595 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned about 10.08% of Merus worth $290,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Merus by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Merus by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,636 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,020 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Merus by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 43,208 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Merus by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,833 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $85.31.

Merus Price Performance

MRUS stock traded down $0.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.25. 237,889 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 696,353. Merus has a 52-week low of $33.19 and a 52-week high of $61.61. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.70 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.18.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $9.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.57 million. As a group, analysts forecast 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.