Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target Cut to $2.50 by Analysts at Needham & Company LLC

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $4.00 to $2.50 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 157.47% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GERN. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $0.97. The stock had a trading volume of 64,968,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,708,182. The company has a market capitalization of $623.84 million, a PE ratio of -8.77 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.43. The company has a current ratio of 6.91, a quick ratio of 5.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Geron has a 1 year low of $0.84 and a 1 year high of $2.01.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $57.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.30 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 24.48% and a negative net margin of 34.17%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Geron will post -0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Geron in the second quarter valued at about $62,868,000. Eversept Partners LP raised its holdings in Geron by 6.7% during the first quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 18,834,883 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174,900 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the second quarter worth $15,648,000. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its position in Geron by 2.1% during the first quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 4,888,304 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,284,000 after purchasing an additional 99,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Geron by 68.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,556,278 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 1,858,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments for blood cancers and other serious hematologic diseases. Its lead product, Rytelo (imetelstat), is a telomerase inhibitor designed to target malignant blood-forming cells.

Rytelo is approved in the United States for adults with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes who have transfusion-dependent anemia requiring regular red blood cell transfusions and have not responded adequately to, or are not eligible for, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.