Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $66.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Merus from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $56.80.

Merus Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $59.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.66 and a beta of 1.10. Merus has a one year low of $19.81 and a one year high of $61.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.38.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.24. The company had revenue of $7.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.14 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merus

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Merus by 47.9% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,084 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 3,916 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Merus by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Merus by 43.1% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,103 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Merus by 43.7% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,354 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,201,000 after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Merus by 30.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 774,953 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,273,000 after buying an additional 180,397 shares during the period. 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.