Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 3.6% Higher

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price shot up 3.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $4.63 and last traded at $4.62. 6,464,069 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 11,256,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GERN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Geron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.07.

Geron Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.71 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.67 and a quick ratio of 3.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.63.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $0.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.34 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 38,730.00% and a negative return on equity of 68.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2941.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Geron

In other Geron news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of Geron stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total transaction of $1,332,977.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of Geron stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of Geron stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total transaction of $1,332,977.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,808,004. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 4.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,869,287 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $98,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304,713 shares during the period. Vivo Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 12.8% during the first quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 27,225,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,081,611 shares during the period. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the second quarter valued at $106,185,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 124.6% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,842,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,108,000 after purchasing an additional 208,170 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.