Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $47.10, but opened at $48.47. Merus shares last traded at $46.90, with a volume of 16,851 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Merus in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Merus from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Merus in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merus has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.31.

Merus Trading Down 1.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.74 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.25.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative return on equity of 38.89% and a negative net margin of 680.61%. The company had revenue of $9.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.57 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,870,000. HealthInvest Partners AB raised its stake in shares of Merus by 64.4% during the 3rd quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB now owns 50,687 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after purchasing an additional 19,850 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Merus by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 153,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,680,000 after purchasing an additional 20,401 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,399,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Merus by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,873,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $343,421,000 after purchasing an additional 648,994 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.