Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Downgraded by Robert W. Baird to Neutral

Robert W. Baird cut shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $4.50 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Geron in a report on Monday. They issued a buy rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $6.10.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ GERN opened at $3.93 on Tuesday. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $4.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.32.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.06 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 63.33% and a negative net margin of 77,691.14%. The firm’s revenue was down 77.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. RA Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Geron by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 46,202,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,949,000 after acquiring an additional 14,657,619 shares during the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 24,143,681 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,943,000 after buying an additional 7,619,047 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Geron by 172.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,634,330 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,705,000 after buying an additional 2,300,220 shares during the period. MPM Bioimpact LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 10,712,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,710,000 after buying an additional 1,521,191 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 146.5% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 2,226,066 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,719,000 after buying an additional 1,322,938 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.