Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 548,750 Shares of Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its holdings in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 34.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,044,625 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 548,750 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 1.51% of Merus worth $43,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Merus by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,899,521 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $290,125,000 after purchasing an additional 25,595 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,497,653 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $147,076,000 after acquiring an additional 610,139 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merus by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $89,356,000 after purchasing an additional 770,000 shares in the last quarter. Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter worth $79,895,000. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,706,238 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $71,747,000 after buying an additional 439,186 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MRUS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merus from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets set a $110.00 price target on Merus and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, May 19th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merus presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.76, for a total transaction of $1,793,840.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 82,500 shares of company stock worth $4,586,340 in the last three months. 4.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Merus Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ MRUS traded up $0.57 on Monday, reaching $66.13. 104,026 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 892,217. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.89 and a 200 day moving average of $47.88. Merus N.V. has a fifty-two week low of $33.19 and a fifty-two week high of $67.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of -16.23 and a beta of 1.09.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 35.99% and a negative net margin of 506.73%. As a group, research analysts expect that Merus N.V. will post -3.85 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.