Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives $5.68 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.68.

Several brokerages have weighed in on GERN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Geron Stock Down 1.8 %

GERN stock opened at $1.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -5.13 and a beta of 0.53. Geron has a fifty-two week low of $1.46 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $200,268,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Geron by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP raised its holdings in Geron by 947.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,940,000 after buying an additional 9,950,000 shares during the period. Finally, Braidwell LP purchased a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.