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

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.05.

A number of research firms have commented on GERN. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Geron in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright started coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company.

Geron Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Geron stock opened at $3.87 on Thursday. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.64 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.32. 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) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company’s revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Geron by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 115,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Geron by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 30,674 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Geron by 32.7% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Geron by 23.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 4,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Geron by 32.6% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,559 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Geron

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.