Merus’ (MRUS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $92.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Merus from $54.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 22nd. 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $80.90.

Merus Stock Performance

Merus stock opened at $54.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.66 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a 52 week low of $19.81 and a 52 week high of $61.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $50.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.24.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. The company had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 44.13% and a negative net margin of 390.36%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at $372,646.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,646.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792 over the last ninety days. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 828 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth about $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merus Company 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.