Merus’ (MRUS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reissued their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $109.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on MRUS. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Merus in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.31.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $44.61 on Friday. Merus has a 52-week low of $37.77 and a 52-week high of $61.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.29 and a beta of 1.15.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.48. The company had revenue of $9.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.57 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Merus by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,899,521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $290,125,000 after buying an additional 25,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,497,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,076,000 after buying an additional 610,139 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merus by 7.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,256,504 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $117,722,000 after acquiring an additional 150,341 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merus by 56.8% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $89,356,000 after acquiring an additional 770,000 shares during the period. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Merus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,895,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.