Fred Alger Management LLC Buys 668 Shares of Merus N.V. $MRUS

Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,956 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Merus worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Merus by 34.9% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $198,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,519 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its stake in Merus by 99.4% during the 1st quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,369,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,831,000 after buying an additional 1,679,777 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 439,186 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in Merus by 51.2% during the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,501,220 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,186,000 after acquiring an additional 508,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in Merus by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,188,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $49,977,000 after acquiring an additional 3,593 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merus

In related news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 82,500 shares of company stock worth $4,586,340 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Merus Trading Up 2.0%

Merus stock opened at $68.55 on Wednesday. Merus N.V. has a 1-year low of $33.19 and a 1-year high of $69.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.47. The company has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.46 and a beta of 1.19.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.17) by ($1.06). The business had revenue of $8.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.28% and a negative net margin of 685.64%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Merus N.V. will post -3.85 EPS 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.