Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 18,369,678 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 62% from the previous session’s volume of 11,311,499 shares.The stock last traded at $1.55 and had previously closed at $1.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GERN. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day moving average is $2.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.35. The company has a market capitalization of $945.80 million, a P/E ratio of -4.64 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,268,000. Nvest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter worth $693,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 140.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after buying an additional 13,163,889 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Geron by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,014,000 after acquiring an additional 73,482 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Geron by 114.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,902,000 after acquiring an additional 694,931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.