Woodline Partners LP Increases Holdings in Merus N.V. $MRUS

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Merus N.V. by 17.8% during the first quarter, owning about 2.02% of the company, valued at approximately $58.9 million.
• Merus reported a loss of $(2.23) earnings per share for the last quarter, missing analyst expectations, and had revenues of $8.83 million, below the consensus estimate.
• A significant portion of company stock, about 96.14%, is held by institutional investors, indicating strong institutional interest in the firm.

Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) by 17.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,400,171 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 211,653 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP owned approximately 2.02% of Merus worth $58,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Merus by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 76,335 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,210,000 after buying an additional 28,983 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Merus by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 113,056 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $4,754,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Merus by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,290 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter valued at about $84,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRUS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merus from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, August 25th. HC Wainwright raised Merus to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Merus from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $110.00 price target on Merus and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merus currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.75.

Insider Transactions at Merus

In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 34,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.76, for a total transaction of $1,793,840.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 82,500 shares of company stock worth $4,586,340 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merus Price Performance

MRUS stock traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,237,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 848,651. The firm has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.65 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.73. Merus N.V. has a 52-week low of $33.19 and a 52-week high of $70.65.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.17) by ($1.06). Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.28% and a negative net margin of 685.64%.The business had revenue of $8.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 million. Research analysts predict that Merus N.V. will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current 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.