Needham & Company LLC Cuts Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Price Target to $83.00

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $85.00 to $83.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 76.26% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MRUS. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Merus in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Merus in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on Merus from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Merus in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Merus in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.77.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $47.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.92 and a beta of 1.11. Merus has a one year low of $37.77 and a one year high of $61.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.80.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.48. The business had revenue of $9.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.57 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Merus by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the 4th quarter valued at $84,000. 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.