Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.38.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GERN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley cut shares of 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 research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nvest Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $693,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Geron by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $16,014,000 after acquiring an additional 73,482 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Geron by 114.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 694,931 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,143,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Geron by 10,151.4% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,029,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,674,000 after buying an additional 1,019,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $1.38. 12,051,248 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,361,352. The business's fifty day moving average price is $1.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.82. Geron has a 52 week low of $1.17 and a 52 week high of $5.34. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $878.94 million, a P/E ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $45.29 million. Equities research analysts predict that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Geron Company Profile

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.