Wexford Capital LP Boosts Stock Position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Wexford Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,386 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,386 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP owned 0.06% of Merus worth $1,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Stempoint Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Merus by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Stempoint Capital LP now owns 614,812 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $25,853,000 after purchasing an additional 193,590 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $1,318,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its stake in shares of Merus by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,706,238 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $71,747,000 after purchasing an additional 439,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merus by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC now owns 45,680 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, May 19th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, March 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Merus from $96.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Merus in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Merus Trading Up 32.5%

Merus stock traded up $13.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.14. The stock had a trading volume of 7,872,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,206. Merus has a 12 month low of $33.19 and a 12 month high of $61.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.96 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.56.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.17) by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $26.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merus Company 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.