Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Up 3.7% – Still a Buy?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price shot up 3.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $3.95 and last traded at $3.95. 907,775 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 10,134,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GERN. Barclays raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Friday. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Geron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.15.

Geron Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.36. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The firm had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 1,200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 32.7% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron in the third quarter worth approximately $67,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.