Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 2% – Time to Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s share price was down 2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $1.64 and last traded at $1.64. Approximately 2,307,806 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 11,339,304 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GERN shares. B. Riley lowered 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Trading Down 2.1 %

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 company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -5.11 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.62 and its 200 day moving average is $3.60.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Geron by 13.3% during the third quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 22,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Geron by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Geron by 68.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Geron by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.