Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Price Target Lowered to $83.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) had its price objective decreased by Needham & Company LLC from $85.00 to $83.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

MRUS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Merus in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.77.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of Merus stock opened at $47.09 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.83. Merus has a fifty-two week low of $37.77 and a fifty-two week high of $61.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.92 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. Boxer Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $79,895,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Merus by 73.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,887,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $144,260,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,573 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merus by 56.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Merus by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,873,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $343,421,000 after acquiring an additional 648,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Merus during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,399,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.