Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Down 5.2% – Here’s What Happened

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price traded down 5.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $1.46 and last traded at $1.4550. Approximately 2,265,197 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 14,869,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.5350.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Geron from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.00.

Geron Trading Down 4.2%

The company has a current ratio of 6.91, a quick ratio of 5.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $944.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.36 and a beta of 0.61.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). Geron had a negative net margin of 34.17% and a negative return on equity of 24.48%. The firm had revenue of $57.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.30 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Geron Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $892,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Geron during the second quarter valued at approximately $305,000. J. Goldman & Co LP acquired a new stake in Geron during the second quarter valued at approximately $912,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Geron during the second quarter worth approximately $647,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Geron during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.