Holocene Advisors LP Takes Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 18,171,350 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,498,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned 3.01% of Geron as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Geron by 1,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV purchased a new position in Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 32.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $4.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.88 and a beta of 0.52. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $5.34.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.05.

Geron 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.