Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Down 4.5%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price fell 4.5% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $4.46 and last traded at $4.50. 1,036,477 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 10,819,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Leerink Partnrs raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.06.

Geron Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $4.56 and its 200-day moving average is $4.05. 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 cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.71 and a beta of 0.50.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $0.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2941.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geron

In related news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Geron during the 2nd quarter valued at $106,185,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 9,342,000 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth about $8,250,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Geron by 999.7% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Altitude Crest Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,054,000. Institutional investors 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.