Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 3.5% Higher

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price traded up 3.5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $4.45 and last traded at $4.39. 884,576 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 11,633,943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.93.

Geron Trading Down 3.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.48.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $0.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 directly owns 600,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 17.7% during the first quarter. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC now owns 24,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 3,650 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Geron by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 132,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 5,079 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Geron by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 64,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,034 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Geron by 870.0% during the 1st quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.