Brokerages Set Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target at $2.50

Shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $2.50.

GERN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Geron Price Performance

Geron stock opened at $1.29 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $827.56 million, a PE ratio of -11.73 and a beta of 0.68. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.04 and a 12 month high of $2.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 6.78 and a quick ratio of 4.96.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $51.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.59 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 23.31% and a negative net margin of 35.48%. On average, analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Geron by 2.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 392,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $627,000 after buying an additional 8,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Geron by 8.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,372,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,182,000 after buying an additional 104,840 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Geron by 8.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 550,871 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 42,345 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Geron by 4.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 873,893 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 34,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Geron by 72.3% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 79,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 33,352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

About Geron

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.