Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.93.

GERN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity at Geron

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Geron by 908.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 192,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 173,370 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Geron by 367.9% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 49,394 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 210,890 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 25,959 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,237,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,611,000 after acquiring an additional 204,765 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,909 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 13,596 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of GERN opened at $4.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.89 and a beta of 0.48. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.64 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.45.

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.