Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $595,000 Stock Holdings in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,155 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Merus were worth $595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Merus by 17.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 84,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,207,000 after purchasing an additional 12,212 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merus during the third quarter worth $358,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merus by 73.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,887,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $144,260,000 after buying an additional 1,224,573 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Merus by 4,583.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 57,234 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 56,012 shares during the period. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in 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 valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 10,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRUS. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.31.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $44.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.29 and a beta of 1.15. Merus has a one year low of $37.77 and a one year high of $61.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.98 and a 200-day moving average of $46.03.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The firm had revenue of $9.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.57 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share 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.