Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 2.5% – What’s Next?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price traded down 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $3.57 and last traded at $3.57. 2,547,510 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 10,115,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.66.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank began coverage on Geron in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.15.

Geron Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of -10.97 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Geron in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $106,185,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,315,000. RTW Investments LP purchased a new position in Geron during the third quarter worth approximately $200,268,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Geron in the second quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Geron by 124.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,389,000 after buying an additional 9,342,000 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Company Profile

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.