Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Price Target to $4.00

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $8.00 to $4.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 127.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.68.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.76 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $2.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.46 and a 1-year high of $5.34.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,268,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Geron in the third quarter worth $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Geron by 140.0% in the third 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. Vestal Point Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 947.6% during the fourth quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,940,000 after acquiring an additional 9,950,000 shares during the period. Finally, Braidwell LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter worth about $24,802,000. 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.