Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) Coverage Initiated at Citigroup

Citigroup started coverage on shares of Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) in a report released on Friday. The firm issued a buy rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on MRSN. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Mersana Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Mersana Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Mersana Therapeutics Trading Down 12.3 %

MRSN stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $2.21. 1,010,218 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,613,163. Mersana Therapeutics has a one year low of $1.22 and a one year high of $6.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.06. The company has a market cap of $271.12 million, a PE ratio of -3.62 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.03). Mersana Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 214.20% and a negative return on equity of 305.33%. The business had revenue of $2.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.47) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Mersana Therapeutics will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Mersana Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Martin H. Jr. Huber sold 50,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $88,744.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,735.52. The trade was a 30.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,849 shares of company stock valued at $129,184. 11.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Mersana Therapeutics by 166.7% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 468,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 293,115 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Mersana Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $226,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,274,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,109,000 after acquiring an additional 36,782 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Mersana Therapeutics by 976.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 8,575 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Mersana Therapeutics by 105,301.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 185,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 185,331 shares during the last quarter. 93.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mersana Therapeutics Company Profile

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients with unmet needs. The company develops XMT-1660, a B7-H4-targeted Dolasynthen ADC candidate; and XMT-2056, an immunosynthen ADC. It has research and development collaborations with Janssen Biotech, Inc, Ares Trading SA, Merck KGaA, and Asana BioSciences, LLC for the development of ADC product candidates.