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

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $2.1667.

A number of research firms have recently commented on GERN. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Geron Trading Down 5.8%

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.46 on Friday. Geron has a 52 week low of $1.04 and a 52 week high of $2.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a current ratio of 4.66. The firm has a market cap of $935.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.23 and a beta of 0.58.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $48.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.43 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 46.65% and a negative return on equity of 28.86%. On average, equities analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RA Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Geron by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 63,771,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $84,178,000 after purchasing an additional 3,392,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Geron by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,660,969 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $47,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,844 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,867,322 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,465,000 after buying an additional 248,508 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP boosted its holdings in Geron by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 23,775,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,523,000 after buying an additional 1,769,660 shares during the period. Finally, Eversept Partners LP grew its stake in Geron by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 17,659,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,311,000 after buying an additional 5,060,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Company Profile

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.