Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives $80.20 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.20.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRUS shares. Guggenheim upped their price target on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Merus from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th.

Insider Activity

In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merus by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Merus during the second quarter worth $237,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRUS opened at $47.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.97. Merus has a 1 year low of $19.81 and a 1 year high of $61.61. The firm has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of -17.25 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $7.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 36.33% and a negative net margin of 476.41%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.27 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.