Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Given New $5.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its target price trimmed by Needham & Company LLC from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

GERN has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. Finally, HC Wainwright cut Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.46 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.97 and a 200-day moving average of $3.80. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 80,200 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,267,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,486,000 after acquiring an additional 246,433 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of Geron by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $41,019,000 after acquiring an additional 4,549,031 shares during the period. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $173,000. 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.