Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Short Interest Update

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 46,660,000 shares, a drop of 8.4% from the March 15th total of 50,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Geron Stock Performance

GERN stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.74. The company had a trading volume of 3,627,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,220,325. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $4.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.20. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.18 and a beta of 0.62.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 77,691.14% and a negative return on equity of 63.33%. The business had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.10) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 77.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Geron will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GERN. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Geron by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 71,155 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 4,006 shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 22,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 4,306 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 209,112 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,928 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 132,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 5,079 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 147,179 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 5,318 shares during the period. 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.