Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Down 8.5% - Should You Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 8.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $2.85 and last traded at $2.90. Approximately 3,819,957 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 11,759,547 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GERN shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.25.

Geron Trading Up 2.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.41 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.20.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17138.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Geron by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 403,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 61,819 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its holdings in Geron by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares during the period. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $93,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of Geron by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 267,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $947,000 after buying an additional 116,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the third quarter valued at about $4,109,000. 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.