Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 4,020 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 739% compared to the typical daily volume of 479 put options.

Merus Trading Up 36.1 %

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $59.99 on Friday. Merus has a 1 year low of $19.81 and a 1 year high of $61.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.62 and a 200-day moving average of $37.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.66 and a beta of 1.10.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. The company had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,377,000. RTW Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 90.0% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 27.9% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 3,876,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,418,000 after purchasing an additional 845,000 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,026,000 after purchasing an additional 751,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artal Group S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $20,492,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $69.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merus has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.80.

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.