Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 9.7% Higher – What’s Next?

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) traded up 9.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $1.64 and last traded at $1.6350. 5,114,463 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 16,010,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GERN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Geron currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.17.

Geron Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -12.77 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.66 and a quick ratio of 3.62.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $48.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.43 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 28.86% and a negative net margin of 46.65%. Research analysts forecast that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Geron by 2.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 392,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 8,123 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Geron by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 92,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 9,849 shares during the period. LCM Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Geron by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 22,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Velan Capital Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP now owns 80,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Geron by 73.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 26,371 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 11,182 shares during the period. 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.