Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Earns Outperform Rating from William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, RTT News reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MRUS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Merus from $48.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $56.33.

Merus Stock Up 2.8 %

MRUS opened at $41.97 on Monday. Merus has a 12-month low of $18.21 and a 12-month high of $52.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.81 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.03 and a 200-day moving average of $33.52.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.71) by ($0.38). Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.61% and a negative net margin of 352.56%. The company had revenue of $8.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.43 million. On average, analysts expect that Merus will post -3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. RTW Investments LP grew its position in shares of Merus by 90.0% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $91,418,000 after buying an additional 845,000 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,026,000 after buying an additional 751,609 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,444,000 after buying an additional 444,444 shares during the period. Finally, Rock Springs Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Merus by 75.2% in the third quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 838,428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $19,770,000 after buying an additional 359,897 shares during the period. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.