Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 150,341 Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,256,504 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 150,341 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 3.30% of Merus worth $117,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Merus by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,873,926 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $343,421,000 after acquiring an additional 648,994 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Merus by 73.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,887,514 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $144,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,573 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C raised its position in shares of Merus by 3.8% in the second quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 2,749,401 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $162,682,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,398,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $141,937,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merus by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 2,324,195 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $137,523,000 after buying an additional 247,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Merus Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MRUS traded down $0.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $42.80. The company had a trading volume of 326,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 679,900. The company's fifty day moving average is $48.79 and its 200-day moving average is $51.40. Merus has a one year low of $24.82 and a one year high of $61.61. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 1.07.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.11 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.89 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MRUS shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Merus from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $109.00 target price (down from $111.00) on shares of Merus in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.64.

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.