Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) had its target price reduced by Needham & Company LLC from $92.00 to $85.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

MRUS has been the topic of several other reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Truist Financial upped 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Merus from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Merus from $70.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, May 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $80.20.

Merus Price Performance

NASDAQ MRUS traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $49.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 933,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 792,169. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.59. Merus has a 52 week low of $19.81 and a 52 week high of $61.61. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.03 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $7.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 476.41% and a negative return on equity of 45.76%. On average, research analysts expect that Merus will post -3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Merus news, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Harry Shuman sold 7,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.84, for a total value of $422,232.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,995.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRUS. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings 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. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Merus by 64.1% in the 4th 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. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Merus by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Merus by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 74,054 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merus in the first quarter worth approximately $72,000. 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.