Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Up 9% – Here’s Why

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) shares were up 9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $1.74 and last traded at $1.76. Approximately 12,231,466 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 14,192,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.68.

Geron Stock Up 8.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.44 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV purchased a new stake in Geron in the third quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors 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.