Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $2.75.

Several brokerages have weighed in on GERN. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 55 North Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. LCM Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Geron by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 22,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Geron by 73.6% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 26,371 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 11,182 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in Geron by 73.8% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 26,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 11,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Geron during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.30. The stock has a market cap of $874.54 million, a P/E ratio of -11.42 and a beta of 0.59. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.04 and a 1-year high of $3.09. The company has a current ratio of 5.96, a quick ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $47.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.24 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 29.63% and a negative net margin of 43.61%. Research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

About Geron

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.