Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 3.5% Higher

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price traded up 3.5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $4.45 and last traded at $4.39. 884,576 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 11,633,943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.93.

Geron Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.67 and a quick ratio of 3.67.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 38,730.00% and a negative return on equity of 68.16%. The firm had revenue of $0.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.15 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Geron

In related news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of Geron stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. RA Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Geron by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 46,202,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,949,000 after purchasing an additional 14,657,619 shares in the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 46.1% during the 4th quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 24,143,681 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $50,943,000 after purchasing an additional 7,619,047 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $24,734,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,250,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,877,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.