Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.93.

A number of research firms have commented on GERN. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In related news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Geron news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total transaction of $1,332,977.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,400,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Geron by 20.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,557,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,663,000 after purchasing an additional 784,822 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 3.3% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 386,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 12,329 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Geron by 146.5% in the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 2,226,066 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,719,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,938 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Geron by 3.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,405,626 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $22,060,000 after acquiring an additional 342,493 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $4.36 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.09 and a 200-day moving average of $3.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.46 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 68.16% and a negative net margin of 38,730.00%. The business had revenue of $0.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.15 million. Analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.