Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Bought by China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 68.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,336 shares during the quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merus were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 3.8% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Merus by 6.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,398,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $141,937,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Merus by 11.9% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 2,324,195 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $137,523,000 after purchasing an additional 247,605 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merus by 26.4% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,009 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,714,000 after purchasing an additional 323,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lynx1 Capital Management LP grew its position in Merus by 32.9% in the first quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 1,509,007 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,951,000 after acquiring an additional 373,782 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Merus from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.09.

Merus Trading Down 1.7 %

Merus stock opened at $51.92 on Wednesday. Merus has a twelve month low of $19.81 and a twelve month high of $61.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.78 and a beta of 1.11.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.05). The business 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 36.33% and a negative net margin of 476.41%. Equities analysts predict that Merus will post -3.27 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.