Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Up 9% – Here’s What Happened

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) shares traded up 9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $1.74 and last traded at $1.76. 12,231,466 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 14,192,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GERN shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley cut Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. On average, analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Geron by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 80,200 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Geron by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,267,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,486,000 after buying an additional 246,433 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in Geron by 64.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,019,000 after buying an additional 4,549,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter worth about $173,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.