Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.33.

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRUS. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on Merus from $48.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

Merus Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MRUS opened at $39.81 on Monday. Merus has a 12 month low of $18.21 and a 12 month high of $52.03. The company has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.10 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.17.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by ($0.38). Merus had a negative net margin of 352.56% and a negative return on equity of 50.61%. The company had revenue of $8.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.43 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merus will post -3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRUS. RTW Investments LP increased its position in Merus by 90.0% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 3,876,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,418,000 after acquiring an additional 845,000 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 95.3% during the 1st quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,613,427 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,687,000 after acquiring an additional 787,340 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,026,000 after acquiring an additional 751,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 97.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,185,820 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,223,000 after acquiring an additional 584,094 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.