Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at HC Wainwright

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

GERN has been the topic of several other research reports. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Geron from $5.50 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.91.

Geron Stock Performance

Geron stock traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $1.66. 59,976,342 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,325,314. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.46 and a 12 month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3.05 and a 200 day moving average of $3.83.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Geron by 23.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 92,784 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 17,837 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Geron by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 4,094 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc purchased a new stake in Geron during the third quarter valued at about $6,752,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 66.4% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,937 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 46,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Geron by 68.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Company Profile

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.