Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives “Outperform” Rating from William Blair

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at William Blair in a research note issued on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merus has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.77.

Merus Stock Up 1.5 %

MRUS stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.92. 239,121 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 608,996. Merus has a twelve month low of $37.77 and a twelve month high of $61.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.89 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.83.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by $0.48. The business had revenue of $9.14 million for 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.85 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merus

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Merus by 17.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 84,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,207,000 after acquiring an additional 12,212 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Merus during the 3rd quarter worth about $675,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in Merus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,870,000. US Bancorp DE acquired a new position in Merus in the third quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merus during the third quarter worth about $358,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.