Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Upgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird downgraded Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.93.

Geron Price Performance

GERN stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $4.51. 15,757,749 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,405,666. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.89 and a beta of 0.48. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.67 and a quick ratio of 3.67.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released 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 business 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Geron will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the company’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 value of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Geron news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 600,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,808,004 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter worth $333,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Geron by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 714,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 196,328 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter worth $34,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Geron by 999.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,877,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Geron by 19.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.