Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.64.

MRUS has been the topic of several recent research reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merus from $91.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, March 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Merus from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 16,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $924,275.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 57,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,086,340. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Boxer Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter worth about $79,895,000. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Merus by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,369,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,777 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merus by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $198,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,519 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Merus by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $89,356,000 after buying an additional 770,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of Merus by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,501,220 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,186,000 after buying an additional 508,063 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Merus Stock Performance

MRUS stock opened at $54.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.48 and a beta of 1.00. Merus has a one year low of $33.19 and a one year high of $62.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.82.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.17) by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $26.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 506.73% and a negative return on equity of 35.99%. Research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.