Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Trading Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)’s stock price dropped 3.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $4.04 and last traded at $4.04. Approximately 841,310 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 10,335,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright started coverage on Geron in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank began coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.05.

Geron Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.88 and a beta of 0.52. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $4.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.32.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The firm had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the second quarter valued at about $106,185,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Geron in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,315,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Geron by 999.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,877,184 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $539,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 124.6% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is 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.