Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Up 7.1%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price shot up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4.69 and last traded at $4.68. 3,689,958 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 10,800,779 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GERN shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.06.

Geron Trading Up 4.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 0.50.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). Geron had a negative return on equity of 73.79% and a negative net margin of 15,990.68%. The business had revenue of $0.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.09) EPS. Geron’s revenue for the quarter was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the business’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $333,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Geron by 999.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,877,184 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Geron by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 714,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 196,328 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 12.3% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.