Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives “Buy” Rating from Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a $76.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MRUS. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. HC Wainwright reiterated a buy rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Merus from $54.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $78.30.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $60.20 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $50.10 and its 200 day moving average is $42.52. Merus has a fifty-two week low of $19.81 and a fifty-two week high of $61.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of -21.73 and a beta of 1.10.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.24. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. The company had revenue of $7.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.84, for a total value of $422,232.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $404,995.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 14,300 shares of company stock valued at $792,792 over the last three months. 4.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merus

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merus by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus during the first quarter valued at about $72,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the first quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.