Deutsche Bank AG Increases Stock Position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 113,056 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG’s holdings in Merus were worth $4,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Merus by 4,583.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 57,234 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 56,012 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter worth $347,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Merus by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Merus by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,954 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,951,000 after acquiring an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRUS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.15.

Merus Trading Up 3.7%

NASDAQ MRUS opened at $41.56 on Monday. Merus has a 12 month low of $33.19 and a 12 month high of $61.61. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -10.52 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.96 and its 200 day moving average is $43.66.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.17) by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $26.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. On average, analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.85 EPS 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.