Verus Capital Partners LLC Invests $363,000 in Merus N.V. $MRUS

Verus Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 6,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Merus by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 22,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 8,804 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the second quarter worth about $885,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Merus by 9.4% in the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 45,275 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,895 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Merus by 66.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 26,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 10,400 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Merus by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 89,110 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,687,000 after purchasing an additional 17,852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Leerink Partnrs cut Merus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Citigroup downgraded Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $101.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $90.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, August 25th. Lifesci Capital reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.35.

Merus Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $96.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a PE ratio of -18.12 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $85.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.49. Merus N.V. has a 12 month low of $33.19 and a 12 month high of $96.09.

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.