Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 751,609 Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 751,609 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 6.30% of Merus worth $100,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Merus by 142.1% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,477 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA grew its holdings in Merus by 107.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 1,811 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Merus by 871.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,564 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Merus during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $69.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.33.

Merus Trading Down 1.4 %

MRUS opened at $40.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.31 and a beta of 1.10. Merus has a 12 month low of $18.21 and a 12 month high of $52.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.97.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by ($0.38). Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.61% and a negative net margin of 352.56%. The business had revenue of $8.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.43 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.