Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $59.17, but opened at $52.79. Merus shares last traded at $55.92, with a volume of 303,368 shares.

Specifically, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Harry Shuman sold 7,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.84, for a total transaction of $422,232.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,995.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,392,792. 4.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRUS. StockNews.com downgraded Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.90.

Merus Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.66 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.24.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative return on equity of 44.13% and a negative net margin of 390.36%. The firm had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.94 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Merus by 37.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Merus by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Merus in the first quarter worth $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Merus in the first quarter worth $108,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Merus by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

About Merus

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.