Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 4.5%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was down 4.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $4.46 and last traded at $4.50. Approximately 1,036,477 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 10,819,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Leerink Partnrs raised Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.06.

Geron Stock Up 7.5 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $4.54 and its 200-day moving average is $4.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Geron

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 available through this link. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Geron by 1,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its stake in Geron by 870.0% during the 1st quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. American Trust acquired a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Geron by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.