Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Down 2.5% – What’s Next?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was down 2.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $3.57 and last traded at $3.57. Approximately 2,547,510 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 10,115,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.66.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on GERN. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.15.

Geron Stock Performance

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 cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.91 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.35.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Geron during the third quarter worth about $200,268,000. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the second quarter worth about $106,185,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth about $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 124.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.