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

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

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Merus in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim lifted 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 report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merus currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.27.

Merus Trading Down 4.8 %

MRUS stock opened at $46.21 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of -11.70 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.89. Merus has a 12-month low of $22.27 and a 12-month high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. The firm had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.11 million. On average, research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 750.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE acquired a new position in shares of Merus in the 3rd quarter valued at $103,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merus by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the 2nd quarter valued at $237,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the 2nd quarter worth $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.