HC Wainwright Initiates Coverage on Geron (NASDAQ:GERN)

Equities research analysts at HC Wainwright initiated coverage on shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $8.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. HC Wainwright's target price would indicate a potential upside of 89.57% from the company's current price.

GERN has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com raised Geron to a "sell" rating in a report 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 Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.05.

Geron Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of GERN stock traded down $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $4.22. 6,022,954 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,304,362. The business's 50 day moving average price is $4.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.64 and a 12-month high of $5.34.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Geron by 4.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,869,287 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $98,569,000 after buying an additional 1,304,713 shares during the period. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the second quarter worth approximately $106,185,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Geron by 124.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $71,389,000 after acquiring an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at approximately $8,250,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,877,184 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geron

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.