Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.15.

A number of brokerages have commented on GERN. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barclays raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $3.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of -10.31 and a beta of 0.51. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.64 and a 12 month high of $5.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Geron by 1,200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $58,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Geron by 32.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Geron in the third quarter valued at about $67,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.