Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Purchased by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 44.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 351,724 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 108,905 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Geron were worth $1,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP acquired a new position in Geron in the third quarter valued at approximately $200,268,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Geron by 28.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,961,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $131,486,000 after buying an additional 6,413,204 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Geron by 140.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after buying an additional 13,163,889 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Geron in the third quarter valued at approximately $82,498,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,067,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $59,339,000 after buying an additional 231,178 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GERN shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Geron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

Geron stock opened at $1.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -5.69 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. Geron Co. has a 12 month low of $1.46 and a 12 month high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Equities analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Geron Company Profile

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.