Insider Buying: Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) CEO Acquires $22,000.00 in Stock

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) CEO John A. Scarlett purchased 12,500 shares of Geron stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $1.76 per share, with a total value of $22,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,000. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Geron Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.68 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 0.53. Geron Co. has a 12-month low of $1.46 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.73.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Equities research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 22,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Geron by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 4,094 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Geron by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Geron by 68.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 7,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

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.