Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Up 4.3% – Should You Buy?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) shot up 4.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $1.84 and last traded at $1.83. 9,915,648 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 10,848,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Geron Stock Performance

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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.47. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.69 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $47.54 million for 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GERN. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Geron by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,450,382 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,205,000 after acquiring an additional 111,361 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Geron by 210.9% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 395,071 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 268,000 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Geron by 519.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 205,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $932,000 after acquiring an additional 172,160 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.