Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $85.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective indicates a potential upside of 94.33% from the company's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MRUS. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $109.00 target price (down from $111.00) on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $85.27.

Merus Stock Performance

Shares of MRUS stock traded down $0.91 on Monday, reaching $43.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,208,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 684,599. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.30 and a beta of 1.07. Merus has a 1 year low of $22.27 and a 1 year high of $61.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.92.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.05). Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The business had revenue of $11.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.11 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRUS. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Merus by 750.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE purchased a new stake in Merus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $103,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Merus by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,467 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in Merus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

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.