Needham & Company LLC Cuts Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Price Target to $85.00

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

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Merus from $57.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued 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 a consensus target price of $80.20.

Merus Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $50.01 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $54.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.85. Merus has a 52 week low of $19.81 and a 52 week high of $61.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.05 and a beta of 1.12.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.64 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 45.76% and a negative net margin of 476.41%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merus will post -3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merus

In other news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,646.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $53,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,646.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Merus by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,398,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $141,937,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. First Turn Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merus in the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,047,000. Nicholas Investment Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Merus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,763,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Merus by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $523,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the second quarter worth approximately $616,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.