State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Takes $1.87 Million Position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 37,426 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,870,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRUS. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Merus by 750.0% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE acquired a new position in Merus in the third quarter valued at $103,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 24.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $44.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.36 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.98. Merus has a 12 month low of $22.26 and a 12 month high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $11.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.11 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, November 1st. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Guggenheim upped 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. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.70.

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.