Scotiabank Has Lowered Expectations for Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Stock Price

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Scotiabank from $6.00 to $4.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price suggests a potential upside of 127.27% from the stock’s current price.

GERN has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Geron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.68.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.76 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.80. 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 cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53. Geron has a fifty-two week low of $1.46 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 80,200 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Geron by 24.1% during the fourth 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 worth $4,486,000 after buying an additional 246,433 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in Geron by 64.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,019,000 after buying an additional 4,549,031 shares during the period. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $173,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.