Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Upgraded by Canaccord Genuity Group to “Strong-Buy”

Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, June 28th. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Merus from $70.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merus presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $80.90.

Merus Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ MRUS opened at $54.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.56 and a beta of 1.12. Merus has a 12 month low of $19.81 and a 12 month high of $61.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.76.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. The firm had revenue of $7.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,646.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,646.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Great Point Partners LLC bought a new position in Merus during the fourth quarter valued at $550,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Merus by 63.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 102,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,633,000 after acquiring an additional 40,060 shares during the last quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB purchased a new stake in Merus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $669,000. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 138.4% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 40,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 23,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,320,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.