B. Riley Downgrades Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) to Neutral

B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $2.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $3.50. B. Riley also issued estimates for Geron’s Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.03) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.03) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.03) EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.02) EPS.

GERN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.68.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.74 on Thursday. Geron has a 52 week low of $1.46 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.44 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. On average, analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 13.3% during the third quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 22,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 2,612 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Geron by 23.1% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 4,094 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Geron by 68.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 7,429 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.