Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Up 4.7% - What's Next?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) shot up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $1.46 and last traded at $1.45. 12,122,114 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 11,377,587 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GERN shares. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank lowered Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5.06.

Geron Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $1.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $834.36 million, a P/E ratio of -4.09 and a beta of 0.76.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $39.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.07) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the first quarter worth about $43,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, 111 Capital purchased a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.