Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $2.75.

A number of analysts have weighed in on GERN shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Geron from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GERN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Geron by 2.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 392,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 8,123 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 8.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,372,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after buying an additional 104,840 shares during the period. 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of Geron during the second quarter worth about $63,000. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 89.2% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 6,985,932 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,293,179 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 28.9% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 284,724 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 63,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.96, a quick ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $874.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.42 and a beta of 0.59. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.04 and a 12 month high of $3.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.30.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03). The company had revenue of $47.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.24 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 43.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.63%. As a group, analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Geron

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.