Merus’ (MRUS) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $85.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on MRUS. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Merus from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merus has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.77.

Merus Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of MRUS stock opened at $46.29 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.65. Merus has a 52 week low of $37.77 and a 52 week high of $61.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of -11.72 and a beta of 1.11.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced 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 net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. Analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,899,521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $290,125,000 after purchasing an additional 25,595 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merus by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,497,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,076,000 after acquiring an additional 610,139 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Merus by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,256,504 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $117,722,000 after acquiring an additional 150,341 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merus by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,356,000 after acquiring an additional 770,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Merus during the 4th quarter worth about $79,895,000. Institutional investors 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.