Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) had its target price increased by Needham & Company LLC from $6.00 to $7.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GERN. Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Geron in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have issued 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 target price of $7.25.

Geron Trading Down 6.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN traded down $0.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $2.98. 23,392,761 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,663,948. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $3.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.64 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of -9.31 and a beta of 0.55.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Geron's revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at $200,268,000. Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron during the second quarter valued at $106,185,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Geron in the third quarter valued at $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 124.6% during 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 buying an additional 9,342,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

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.