Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Cut to “Hold” at Leerink Partnrs

Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Sunday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on MRUS. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Alliance Global Partners started coverage on Merus in a report on Monday, August 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered Merus from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. HC Wainwright lowered Merus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Lifesci Capital restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.12.

Merus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $94.39 on Friday. Merus has a 1 year low of $33.19 and a 1 year high of $94.56. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.16 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $70.63 and a 200-day moving average of $56.75.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.17) by ($1.06). Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.28% and a negative net margin of 685.64%.The business had revenue of $8.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 2,153.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 631 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 64,374 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 21,166 shares during the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $118,000. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the 1st quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 273.4% during the 1st quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 108,281 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,558,000 after acquiring an additional 79,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.