Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Coverage Initiated at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $73.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.45.

Merus Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $44.68 on Thursday. Merus has a 1-year low of $22.26 and a 1-year high of $61.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.30 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.81.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.11 million. Equities analysts predict that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Merus in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $675,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 26.4% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,009 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,714,000 after buying an additional 323,518 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth approximately $555,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 90.6% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 521,339 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $30,848,000 after buying an additional 247,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth approximately $53,377,000. 96.14% of the stock is 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.