Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Down 7.1% – Here’s What Happened

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) was down 7.1% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $1.24 and last traded at $1.2450. Approximately 11,808,747 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 14,935,776 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Geron Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 4.96, a current ratio of 6.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $792.28 million, a PE ratio of -11.23 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.46.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $51.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.59 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 35.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.31%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Geron Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RA Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Geron by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 63,771,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $84,178,000 after purchasing an additional 3,392,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,660,969 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,844 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Geron by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,867,322 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,465,000 after acquiring an additional 248,508 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its position in shares of Geron by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 23,775,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769,660 shares during the period. Finally, Eversept Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Geron by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 18,834,883 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174,900 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geron

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.