Soleus Capital Management L.P. Decreases Stock Position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Soleus Capital Management L.P. reduced its position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,321 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 86,000 shares during the period. Soleus Capital Management L.P. owned 0.46% of Merus worth $13,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 0.4% during the fourth 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 boosted 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 worth $147,076,000 after purchasing an additional 610,139 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $89,356,000 after purchasing an additional 770,000 shares during the period. Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merus in the fourth quarter worth about $79,895,000. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in Merus by 34.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 439,186 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on MRUS shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Merus from $96.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler started coverage on Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $109.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $86.00.

Merus Stock Up 32.5%

Shares of MRUS stock traded up $13.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $55.14. 7,872,333 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 758,206. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $42.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.56. Merus has a 12-month low of $33.19 and a 12-month high of $61.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.96 and a beta of 0.94.

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