Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Down 4.5% - Here's Why

Shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) were down 4.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $1.37 and last traded at $1.38. Approximately 2,480,463 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 11,250,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "sell" rating and a $1.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank lowered Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $4.61.

Geron Stock Down 4.3%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.43 and a 200-day moving average of $1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $840.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.29 and a beta of 0.64. 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 (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.07) EPS. Geron's revenue was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Frisch Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 84.3% in the first quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the 1st quarter worth about $39,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.