Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Down 3.3% – Time to Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price traded down 3.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $1.32 and last traded at $1.34. 1,223,539 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 11,380,408 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GERN shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set 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 objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $796.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.91 and a beta of 0.66. 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 fifty day moving average price is $1.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.08.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Geron by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 295,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 27,796 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,510,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,826,000 after buying an additional 847,710 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 484,962 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after buying an additional 52,846 shares during the last quarter. 111 Capital acquired a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Geron by 121.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 91,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 50,066 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.