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

Shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.20.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRUS. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Merus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, May 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.84, for a total value of $422,232.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $404,995.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,392,792 in the last ninety days. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merus

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Merus by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Merus by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $50.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.65. Merus has a 52-week low of $19.81 and a 52-week high of $61.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of -18.41 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 45.76%. The firm had revenue of $7.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 million. Equities research analysts predict that Merus will post -3.05 EPS 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.