BMO Capital Markets Increases Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Price Target to $47.00

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS – Get Rating) had its price objective hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $46.00 to $47.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price points to a potential upside of 129.27% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on MRUS. Citigroup decreased their target price on Merus from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Merus from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRUS opened at $20.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $949.50 million, a PE ratio of -7.07 and a beta of 0.75. Merus has a 1 year low of $12.03 and a 1 year high of $30.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.09.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.84) by ($0.97). Merus had a negative return on equity of 44.86% and a negative net margin of 315.48%. The business had revenue of $10.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.34 million. On average, research analysts expect that Merus will post -4.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Commodore Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Merus by 44.0% during the 2nd quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 2,615,762 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,221,000 after acquiring an additional 799,341 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP bought a new position in shares of Merus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,910,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C boosted its position in shares of Merus by 354.4% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,985,924 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,961,000 after acquiring an additional 1,548,924 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merus by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,590,560 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,606,000 after acquiring an additional 539,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VR Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Merus during the 4th quarter valued at $18,970,000. 79.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merus Company Profile

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Merus NV is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, which engages in the discovery and development of bispecific antibody therapeutics. Its pipeline includes Biclonics for solid and hematological tumors. The company was founded by Ton Logtenberg and Hennie Hoogenboom on June 16, 2003 and is headquartered in Utrecht, the Netherlands.