Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN)

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 8,320 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,954% compared to the average volume of 405 call options.

Mersana Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRSN opened at $2.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $299.01 million, a PE ratio of -1.64 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a current ratio of 3.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.23 and a 200-day moving average of $3.08. Mersana Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.80 and a one year high of $9.62.

Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.16). The business had revenue of $10.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.59 million. Mersana Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 282.36% and a negative net margin of 465.80%. Mersana Therapeutics’s revenue was down 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.44) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mersana Therapeutics will post -0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research upgraded Mersana Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush raised shares of Mersana Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Mersana Therapeutics from $1.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Mersana Therapeutics from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Mersana Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRSN. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mersana Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,620,000. Walleye Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mersana Therapeutics by 1,205.0% during the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 2,021,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after buying an additional 1,866,568 shares in the last quarter. Newtyn Management LLC acquired a new position in Mersana Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at $889,000. ClariVest Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mersana Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $2,114,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Mersana Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $449,000. 93.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mersana Therapeutics Company Profile

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients with unmet needs. The company develops XMT-1660, a B7-H4-targeted Dolasynthen ADC candidate; and XMT-2056, an immunosynthen ADC. It has research and development collaborations with Janssen Biotech, Inc, Ares Trading SA, Merck KGaA, and Asana BioSciences, LLC for the development of ADC product candidates.