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

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $2.50.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised Geron from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in Geron by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 3,253,960 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358,068 shares during the last quarter. Almitas Capital LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,296,000. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in Geron by 59.6% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 9,527,083 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,556,160 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Geron by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,660,969 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $47,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Fleet Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,027,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $718.50 million, a PE ratio of -10.18 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 4.96, a current ratio of 6.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Geron has a 52-week low of $1.04 and a 52-week high of $2.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.44.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $51.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.59 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 23.31% and a negative net margin of 35.48%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Geron Company Profile

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.