Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives $5.06 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.06.

GERN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th.

Geron Trading Down 2.6%

Geron stock opened at $1.51 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 6.97 and a current ratio of 7.87. Geron has a one year low of $1.17 and a one year high of $5.06. The stock has a market cap of $961.75 million, a PE ratio of -7.19 and a beta of 0.69.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 47.86% and a negative net margin of 119.54%. Geron’s revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Geron by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 4,829 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 392,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 8,123 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Geron by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 36,041 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 8,967 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by 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.