Brokerages Set Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target at $7.05

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.05.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GERN shares. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partners began coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ GERN remained flat at $4.27 during trading on Thursday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 28,175,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,400,785. Geron has a fifty-two week low of $1.64 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61. The firm's fifty day moving average is $4.33 and its 200 day moving average is $4.30.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). The company had revenue of $0.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.34 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 15,990.68% and a negative return on equity of 73.79%. Geron's revenue was up 2941.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Geron will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron in the 2nd quarter worth about $106,185,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,315,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Geron by 999.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,815,000 after buying an additional 1,877,184 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Geron by 124.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $71,389,000 after acquiring an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.