Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Stock Price Up 4.7%

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)’s stock price shot up 4.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $50.10 and last traded at $49.99. 294,463 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 724,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MRUS shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Merus from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merus from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merus has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.20.

Merus Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.01. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.04 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $7.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 36.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Merus by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Merus by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 74,054 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Merus in the first quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 41.0% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 2,572 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.