John A. Scarlett Purchases 12,500 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) CEO John A. Scarlett purchased 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $1.76 per share, with a total value of $22,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Geron Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of GERN opened at $1.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. Geron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.46 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $2.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.75. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.19 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GERN. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in Geron in the third quarter valued at approximately $200,268,000. Nvest Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the fourth quarter worth $693,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after buying an additional 13,163,889 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Geron by 114.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,902,000 after buying an additional 694,931 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,102,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geron

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.