Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 3% – Here’s What Happened

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price traded down 3% on Monday . The company traded as low as $1.77 and last traded at $1.77. 1,451,958 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 14,617,280 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Geron has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.75.

Geron Stock Down 2.9 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.31 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 business had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

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