Farallon Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,000 Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Great Point Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter worth approximately $550,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Merus by 63.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 102,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,633,000 after purchasing an additional 40,060 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 138.4% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 40,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 23,503 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,320,000. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merus by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,444,000 after purchasing an additional 444,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRUS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merus has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.20.

Merus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $47.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.25 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $52.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.97. Merus has a 52 week low of $19.81 and a 52 week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 36.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.