Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price Down 3.1% – Should You Sell?

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Geron Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.88 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Geron by 1,200.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the period. American Trust acquired a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Readystate Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth about $58,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Geron by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.