Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Earns "Buy" Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Free Report) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $109.00 price objective on the biotechnology company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. 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 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.31.

Merus Trading Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ MRUS traded down $1.28 on Friday, hitting $40.81. 420,218 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 691,385. Merus has a 52 week low of $37.77 and a 52 week high of $61.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.03 and a 200-day moving average of $45.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.34 and a beta of 1.15.

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Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. The business had revenue of $9.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.57 million. As a group, analysts predict that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merus by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,899,521 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $290,125,000 after buying an additional 25,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Merus by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,497,653 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $147,076,000 after acquiring an additional 610,139 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Merus by 7.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,256,504 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $117,722,000 after purchasing an additional 150,341 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merus by 56.8% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $89,356,000 after purchasing an additional 770,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company's stock.

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.