Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $5.38.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.42 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.79. The firm has a market cap of $904.42 million, a PE ratio of -4.44 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.17 and a 1-year high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Research analysts predict that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, 111 Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently 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.