Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN – Get Rating)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $4.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 58.10% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 in a report on Monday, January 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.50.

Geron Trading Down 4.5 %

GERN opened at $2.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.15 and a twelve month high of $3.84.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 16th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 8,563.80% and a negative return on equity of 110.76%. The business had revenue of $0.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 384,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.03, for a total value of $1,165,698.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Olivia Kyusuk Bloom sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.08, for a total value of $1,232,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,731.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 384,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.03, for a total transaction of $1,165,698.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,231,385 shares of company stock valued at $3,751,097 in the last 90 days. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GERN. Boxer Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,602,000. Vivo Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Geron by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 19,282,834 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,664,000 after acquiring an additional 4,044,739 shares during the period. Bioimpact Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Geron by 37.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bioimpact Capital LLC now owns 8,434,991 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285,714 shares during the period. Logos Global Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,680,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Geron by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,336,930 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,182 shares during the period. 49.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Geron

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Geron Corp. operates as a biotechnology company. It develops a telomerase inhibitor, Imetelstat, in hematologic myeloid malignancies. The firm develops therapeutic products for oncology. The company was founded by Michael D. West on November 28, 1990 and is headquartered in Foster City, CA.