Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $1.46 and last traded at $1.59, with a volume of 30525697 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, B. Riley reduced 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.91.

Geron Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.83. The company has a market capitalization of $998.03 million, a PE ratio of -5.08 and a beta of 0.53. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. RTW Investments LP purchased a new position in Geron in the third quarter valued at approximately $200,268,000. Nvest Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at $693,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $102,193,000 after acquiring an additional 13,163,889 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Geron by 114.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,902,000 after acquiring an additional 694,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the third quarter valued at $1,102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.