Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives $80.90 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.90.

MRUS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, June 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th.

Insider Transactions at Merus

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction dated 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 valued at $1,392,792 in the last quarter. 4.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Merus by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Merus by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in 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. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Merus by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 74,054 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,335,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Merus in the 1st quarter worth about $72,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of Merus stock opened at $52.10 on Wednesday. Merus has a 52-week low of $19.81 and a 52-week high of $61.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.81 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $55.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.48.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative return on equity of 45.76% and a negative net margin of 476.41%. The company had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.94 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.