Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Bank of America

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Bank of America in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $76.00 price objective on the biotechnology company's stock. Bank of America's target price points to a potential upside of 35.52% from the stock's previous close.

MRUS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Merus from $54.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merus has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $73.60.

Read Our Latest Report on Merus

Merus Stock Performance

MRUS stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.08. 310,287 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 786,509. Merus has a one year low of $19.81 and a one year high of $61.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of -20.25 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.06.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. On average, equities analysts expect that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Merus

In other news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $372,646.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,300 shares of company stock valued at $792,792. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new stake in Merus in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,377,000. RTW Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Merus by 90.0% during the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C raised its stake in shares of Merus by 27.9% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 3,876,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $91,418,000 after purchasing an additional 845,000 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merus by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $100,026,000 after purchasing an additional 751,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artal Group S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth approximately $20,492,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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