Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Up 4.7%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price rose 4.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $3.78 and last traded at $3.75. Approximately 961,135 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 11,179,831 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

Geron Trading Up 3.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.20.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 77,691.14% and a negative return on equity of 63.33%. The company had revenue of $0.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 77.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 571,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 44,400 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Geron by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 192,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 45,452 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Geron by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,161,223 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after acquiring an additional 11,874 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 143,848 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 28,689 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,336,930 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,182 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is currently 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.