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

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $85.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 83.94% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Merus from $93.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Merus in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.27.

Merus Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $46.21 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.70 and a beta of 1.07. Merus has a 1-year low of $22.27 and a 1-year high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The business had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.11 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 73.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,224,573 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Merus by 813.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,952 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,682,000 after purchasing an additional 853,060 shares during the last quarter. Logos Global Management LP acquired a new position in Merus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,294,000. Novo Holdings A S bought a new position in Merus in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,940,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Merus by 10.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,873,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $343,421,000 after purchasing an additional 648,994 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Merus

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.