Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Up 4.3% – Here’s Why

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price rose 4.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $1.84 and last traded at $1.83. Approximately 9,915,648 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 10,848,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the topic of several research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank dropped their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley cut Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.73 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GERN. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth $200,268,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter worth about $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 947.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,940,000 after buying an additional 9,950,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Braidwell LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.