Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.75.

GERN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 111 Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Fifth Lane Capital LP acquired a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $2.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.28. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $878.93 million, a PE ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.54. Geron has a 52-week low of $1.33 and a 52-week high of $5.34.

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

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.