Short Interest in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Declines By 16.3%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 58,410,000 shares, a decline of 16.3% from the February 13th total of 69,770,000 shares. Currently, 10.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 14,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

GERN traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $1.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 169,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,824,434. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.36 and a beta of 0.53. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.46 and a 12 month high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Readystate Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,000. 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.