Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Receives Buy Rating from Canaccord Genuity Group

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Canaccord Genuity Group in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $67.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 22.49% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on Merus from $70.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Merus from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.90.

Merus Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MRUS opened at $54.70 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.41. Merus has a 12-month low of $19.81 and a 12-month high of $61.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of -19.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $7.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.94 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of Merus stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at $370,335.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,392,792 in the last quarter. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merus by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Merus by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 828 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Merus by 2.9% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Merus by 1.9% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 74,054 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,335,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Merus during the first quarter worth approximately $72,000. 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.