Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GERN. Barclays initiated coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set an overweight rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They issued a buy rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Geron from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $4.50 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $6.93.

Geron Trading Up 8.6 %

GERN stock opened at $4.66 on Friday. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.67 and a current ratio of 3.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.30.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $0.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.15 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 38,730.00% and a negative return on equity of 68.16%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geron

In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Geron news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 600,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock worth $6,808,004 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Geron in the first quarter valued at about $333,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Geron by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 714,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 196,328 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Geron by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,237,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,611,000 after acquiring an additional 204,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 4.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 804,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,654,000 after acquiring an additional 30,700 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently 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.