Analysts Set Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) PT at $5.38

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.38.

Several research firms have recently commented on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Geron Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.38 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.82. The company has a market cap of $878.94 million, a P/E ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.66. Geron has a 52 week low of $1.17 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. Research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Barclays PLC raised its stake 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 worth $5,902,000 after buying an additional 694,931 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Geron by 10,151.4% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,029,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,510 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Geron by 461.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 79,923 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 65,687 shares in the last quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron in the third quarter worth approximately $4,109,000. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Geron by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 267,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $947,000 after purchasing an additional 116,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.