Scotiabank Cuts Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target to $4.00

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its price target reduced by Scotiabank from $6.00 to $4.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 127.27% from the stock’s current price.

GERN has been the subject of several other reports. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Geron presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.68.

Geron Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GERN opened at $1.76 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.80. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.46 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Geron by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 80,200 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Geron by 24.1% during 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 worth $4,486,000 after purchasing an additional 246,433 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in Geron by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,019,000 after purchasing an additional 4,549,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at about $173,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.