Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $66.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Merus from $48.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a buy rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $53.64.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $41.85 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.56. Merus has a twelve month low of $18.21 and a twelve month high of $52.03.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $8.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.43 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 352.56% and a negative return on equity of 50.61%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merus will post -3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 142.1% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,477 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 871.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,564 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.