Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.75.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Geron from $4.00 to $2.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings cut Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on Geron to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ GERN opened at $0.93 on Wednesday. Geron has a 52 week low of $0.84 and a 52 week high of $2.01. The company has a current ratio of 6.91, a quick ratio of 5.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $597.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.45 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.42.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $57.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.30 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 34.17% and a negative return on equity of 24.48%. Analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.05 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GERN. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Geron in the second quarter worth about $25,000. LCM Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. GTS Securities LLC increased its stake in Geron by 71.6% during the 2nd quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 23,772 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 9,921 shares during the period. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Geron by 122.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 30,028 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Geron

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments for blood cancers and other serious hematologic diseases. Its lead product, Rytelo (imetelstat), is a telomerase inhibitor designed to target malignant blood-forming cells.

Rytelo is approved in the United States for adults with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes who have transfusion-dependent anemia requiring regular red blood cell transfusions and have not responded adequately to, or are not eligible for, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.