Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $6.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GERN. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Geron from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price 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. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, April 29th. They issued a buy rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued an overweight rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $6.93.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ GERN opened at $4.69 on Friday. Geron has a 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.67 and a current ratio of 3.67. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.40 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4.36 and a 200-day moving average of $3.36.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 38,730.00% and a negative return on equity of 68.16%. The company had revenue of $0.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.15 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Geron will post -0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total transaction of $1,332,977.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,808,004. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in Geron by 870.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Geron in the first quarter worth about $34,000. American Trust bought a new position in Geron in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Csenge Advisory Group bought a new position in Geron in the second quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Geron by 17.7% in the first quarter. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC now owns 24,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 3,650 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.