GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 13,502 Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 13,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its holdings in Merus by 3.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Merus by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,398,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,937,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its position in Merus by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 2,324,195 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,523,000 after acquiring an additional 247,605 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Merus by 26.4% during the 2nd 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 raised its position in Merus by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 1,509,007 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $67,951,000 after purchasing an additional 373,782 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MRUS. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, November 1st. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merus presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.70.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of Merus stock opened at $46.58 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.79 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a 52 week low of $22.26 and a 52 week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.11 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merus

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.