Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.06.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GERN. Scotiabank downgraded Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 84.3% during the first quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $987.23 million, a P/E ratio of -7.38 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.21. The company has a current ratio of 7.87, a quick ratio of 6.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.17 and a 12 month high of $5.06.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 47.86% and a negative net margin of 119.54%. The company had revenue of $39.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.07) EPS. Geron's revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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