Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Downgraded to Neutral Rating by HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Geron’s FY2029 earnings at $0.60 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GERN. Barclays upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. B. Riley dropped their target price on Geron from $5.50 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.68.

Geron Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.76 on Wednesday. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.46 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.80. 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 $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. On average, research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 80,200 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,267,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,486,000 after buying an additional 246,433 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $41,019,000 after buying an additional 4,549,031 shares during the period. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $173,000. 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.