Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Downgraded by Scotiabank to Sector Perform

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Scotiabank from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $1.50 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock, down from their previous price objective of $4.00. Scotiabank's target price suggests a potential upside of 26.05% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reaffirmed 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5.06.

Geron Trading Down 7.0%

GERN traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $1.19. The company had a trading volume of 6,058,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,549,150. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $1.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.70. The company has a market cap of $757.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.72 and a beta of 0.76. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.34. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The firm had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.07) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12927.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Nvest Financial LLC bought a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $693,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Geron by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $16,014,000 after buying an additional 73,482 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Geron by 114.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,902,000 after buying an additional 694,931 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,143,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Geron by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 189,614 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 12,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

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.