Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $1.28 and last traded at $1.41, with a volume of 13683362 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $1.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GERN shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a 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 given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Geron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $1.99 and a 200 day moving average of $3.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $885.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Geron by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 22,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 2,612 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its position in shares of Geron by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Geron by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Geron by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 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.