Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading 7.1% Higher

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GERN shares. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reissued 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.06.

Geron Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.29 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.98.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $0.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 1,200.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. American Trust acquired a new position in Geron during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Geron by 32.7% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.