Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $2.50.

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Almitas Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,296,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Geron by 59.6% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 9,527,083 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,556,160 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Geron by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,660,969 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $47,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,844 shares during the period. Eversept Partners LP increased its position in shares of Geron by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 17,659,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,311,000 after buying an additional 5,060,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Fleet Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,027,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,313,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,852,314. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.45. The stock has a market cap of $939.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.32 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 6.78 and a quick ratio of 4.96. Geron has a 1 year low of $1.04 and a 1 year high of $2.01.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. Geron had a negative return on equity of 23.31% and a negative net margin of 35.48%.The business had revenue of $51.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.59 million. Analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Geron

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.