Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $85.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on MRUS. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merus has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.91.

Merus Stock Performance

Merus stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $50.30. The company had a trading volume of 470,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,391. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.23 and a beta of 1.11. Merus has a 1 year low of $21.51 and a 1 year high of $61.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $50.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.22.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 36.33%. The business had revenue of $7.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.27 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 63.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 102,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,633,000 after acquiring an additional 40,060 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Merus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $555,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 26.4% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,009 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,714,000 after acquiring an additional 323,518 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 90.6% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 521,339 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $30,848,000 after acquiring an additional 247,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter valued at approximately $53,377,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.