Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Stock Holdings Lessened by Balyasny Asset Management L.P.

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. reduced its holdings in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 94.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,399 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 565,489 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Merus were worth $1,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter worth about $360,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Merus by 4,583.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 57,234 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after buying an additional 56,012 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Merus by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,517 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $610,000 after buying an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in shares of Merus by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 48,268 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after buying an additional 10,842 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.15.

Merus Trading Down 3.5%

Merus stock opened at $40.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.96. Merus has a 52 week low of $33.19 and a 52 week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $26.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. Research analysts expect 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.