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

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) dropped 4.5% during mid-day 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank cut Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday. They issued a "sell" rating and a $1.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.61.

Geron Stock Down 8.7%

The company has a market capitalization of $837.55 million, a PE ratio of -6.26 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 6.97 and a current ratio of 7.87.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 119.54% and a negative return on equity of 47.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.07) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $16,014,000 after buying an additional 73,482 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,143,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,064,458 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $10,845,000 after purchasing an additional 247,018 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Geron by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 189,614 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,027 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter worth $247,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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