Atle Fund Management AB Sells 11,890 Shares of Merus N.V. $MRUS

Atle Fund Management AB decreased its position in shares of Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 19.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 47,999 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 11,890 shares during the period. Merus comprises 1.8% of Atle Fund Management AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Atle Fund Management AB’s holdings in Merus were worth $4,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its position in Merus by 299.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merus by 10,400.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Merus by 15.7% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,674 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the third quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, NTV Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the third quarter valued at $212,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Merus

In related news, major shareholder A/S Genmab bought 1,052,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $97.00 per share, with a total value of $102,122,182.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 73,884,293 shares in the company, valued at $7,166,776,421. This trade represents a 1.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,421,216 shares of company stock valued at $234,857,952. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Merus Trading Down 7.1%

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $90.00 on Friday. Merus N.V. has a 12 month low of $33.19 and a 12 month high of $97.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MRUS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merus has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.56.

Merus Company Profile

Merus NV is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of bispecific antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Utilizing its proprietary Biclonics® platform, Merus engineers fully human bispecific antibodies designed to engage immune cells and tumor targets simultaneously. The company’s research efforts are aimed at creating novel therapies with optimized potency, selectivity and safety profiles.

The Merus pipeline encompasses multiple Biclonics candidates in various stages of preclinical and clinical development.