Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 5.6% Higher – What’s Next?

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price traded up 5.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $1.43 and last traded at $1.4150. 3,145,037 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 10,843,684 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.75.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 5.96, a quick ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $845.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.04 and a beta of 0.57.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03). The company had revenue of $47.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.24 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 29.63% and a negative net margin of 43.61%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Geron by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,146,851 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,293,000 after purchasing an additional 608,029 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Geron by 74.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,618,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,754,000 after buying an additional 1,541,005 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the first quarter worth about $4,533,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Geron by 99.9% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 3,692,753 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Geron during the first quarter worth about $130,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.