Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its price target cut by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 184.09% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN opened at $1.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $2.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.80. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.46 and a twelve 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.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the third quarter valued at $200,268,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Geron by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 947.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,940,000 after purchasing an additional 9,950,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Braidwell LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter worth about $24,802,000. 73.71% of the stock is 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.