Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 4.4% Higher – Here’s Why

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) traded up 4.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $3.57 and last traded at $3.55. 4,794,582 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 10,397,970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Leerink Partnrs raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, December 13th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.15.

Geron Stock Up 0.8 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of -11.16 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.28.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Geron’s revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,268,000. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Geron during the second quarter worth $106,185,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Geron during the third quarter valued at $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 140.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after acquiring an additional 13,163,889 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 124.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $71,389,000 after acquiring an additional 9,342,000 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by 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.