Merus’ (MRUS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

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

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MRUS. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $54.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $78.30.

Merus Trading Up 5.6 %

Shares of Merus stock opened at $60.20 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.10 and a 200-day moving average of $42.52. Merus has a 1-year low of $19.81 and a 1-year high of $61.61. The company has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of -21.73 and a beta of 1.10.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.94 million. Research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Merus

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in shares of Merus during the first quarter worth $53,377,000. RTW Investments LP grew its holdings in Merus by 90.0% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its holdings in Merus by 27.9% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 3,876,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,418,000 after purchasing an additional 845,000 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Merus by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,026,000 after purchasing an additional 751,609 shares during the period. Finally, Artal Group S.A. acquired a new stake in Merus in the first quarter worth $20,492,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.