Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 184.09% from the company’s previous close.

GERN has been the subject of several other reports. B. Riley cut Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Geron stock opened at $1.76 on Thursday. Geron has a 52-week low of $1.46 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.97 and a 200 day moving average of $3.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth about $200,268,000. Nvest Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $693,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Geron by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 114.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 694,931 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth approximately $1,102,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geron

Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.