Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.06.

GERN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays began coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Leerink Partnrs raised Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Activity at Geron

In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total value of $3,075,026.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Geron by 1,200.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 870.0% during the 1st quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. American Trust purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Geron by 32.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 3,805 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Price Performance

GERN traded down $0.03 on Wednesday, hitting $4.52. 5,323,814 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,812,552. 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 has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.00 and a beta of 0.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $4.57 and its 200 day moving average is $3.99.

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

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.