Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Up 6.1%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) shot up 6.1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $4.57 and last traded at $4.51. 2,036,625 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 10,935,778 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GERN shares. Barclays assumed coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Geron in a report on Monday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Geron presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $7.06.

Geron Stock Up 3.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.60 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $4.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.60.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.10). The business had revenue of $0.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.34 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 73.79% and a negative net margin of 15,990.68%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Geron

In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the business'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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Geron by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 210,890 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 25,959 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Geron by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,237,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,611,000 after acquiring an additional 204,765 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Geron by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,909 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 13,596 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Geron by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,842,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $8,108,000 after buying an additional 208,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Geron by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 714,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 196,328 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

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.