Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target to $4.00

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $8.00 to $4.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 127.27% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GERN. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.68.

Geron Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.76 on Thursday. Geron has a 1 year low of $1.46 and a 1 year high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. As a group, research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Geron by 13.3% in the third quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 22,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its position in Geron by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Geron by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 4,094 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Geron by 68.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 7,429 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.