Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

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

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MRUS. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com lowered Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a buy rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merus currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $80.90.

Merus Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $59.17 on Friday. Merus has a fifty-two week low of $19.81 and a fifty-two week high of $61.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.77.

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

Insider Activity at Merus

In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792 in the last 90 days. 4.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merus

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lynx1 Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Merus by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 1,509,007 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,951,000 after acquiring an additional 373,782 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $555,000. Artal Group S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $20,492,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after buying an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Merus by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 542,580 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,427,000 after buying an additional 11,536 shares in the last quarter. 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.