Citigroup Raises Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Price Target to $93.00

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) had its price objective increased by Citigroup from $70.00 to $93.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MRUS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Bank of America reissued a buy rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Merus in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased 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 and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $80.90.

Merus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRUS opened at $59.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.36 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.49 and its 200-day moving average is $42.77. Merus has a 52 week low of $19.81 and a 52 week high of $61.61.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative net margin of 390.36% and a negative return on equity of 44.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Merus

In other Merus news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $317,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Harry Shuman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $317,340.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,002 shares in the company, valued at $370,335.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Peter B. Silverman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,300 shares of company stock worth $1,392,792. Insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Merus

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRUS. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Merus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $550,000. RTW Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Merus by 90.0% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,084,000 after buying an additional 945,871 shares during the last quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB bought a new stake in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter worth $669,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in Merus by 138.4% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 40,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 23,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merus during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,320,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.