Zacks Research Downgrades Mereo BioPharma Group (NASDAQ:MREO) to Strong Sell

Key Points

• Zacks Research has downgraded Mereo BioPharma Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating as of Tuesday.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $7.40, despite a recent missed earnings report and low revenue compared to estimates.
• Institutional investors own approximately 62.83% of the company's stock, continuing to show support despite the downgrade.

Mereo BioPharma Group (NASDAQ:MREO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Mereo BioPharma Group and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mereo BioPharma Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Mereo BioPharma Group from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mereo BioPharma Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.40.

Mereo BioPharma Group Stock Up 3.1%

Mereo BioPharma Group stock opened at $2.02 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $1.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.12. Mereo BioPharma Group has a 12 month low of $1.47 and a 12 month high of $4.72. The stock has a market cap of $321.18 million, a P/E ratio of -28.86 and a beta of 0.45.

Mereo BioPharma Group (NASDAQ:MREO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $0.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.80 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mereo BioPharma Group will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atle Fund Management AB lifted its position in Mereo BioPharma Group by 96.1% during the 2nd quarter. Atle Fund Management AB now owns 764,901 shares of the company's stock worth $2,073,000 after acquiring an additional 374,901 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Mereo BioPharma Group by 109.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 18,855 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 9,854 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Mereo BioPharma Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,125,920 shares of the company's stock worth $4,783,000 after acquiring an additional 6,068 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. lifted its position in Mereo BioPharma Group by 53.4% during the 1st quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 7,819,863 shares of the company's stock worth $17,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,722,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new position in Mereo BioPharma Group during the 1st quarter worth $4,924,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.83% of the company's stock.

Mereo BioPharma Group Company Profile

Mereo BioPharma Group plc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes therapeutics for the treatment of oncology and rare diseases in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It develops Etigilimab (MPH-313), an antibody T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of tumors.

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