Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) shares traded down 3.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $4.04 and last traded at $4.04. 841,310 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 10,335,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright started coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.05.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.03 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company’s revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Geron by 1,200.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. American Trust acquired a new stake in Geron during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Geron during the third quarter worth about $58,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV acquired a new stake in Geron during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Geron by 32.7% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geron Company Profile

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.