Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Purchased by Farallon Capital Management LLC

Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 124.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,342,000 shares during the quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Geron were worth $71,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Geron by 1,200.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Geron by 870.0% in the first quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at $34,000. American Trust bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Geron by 32.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN opened at $4.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -12.23 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.55 and a 200-day moving average of $4.06. Geron Co. has a one year low of $1.64 and a one year high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). The business had revenue of $0.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.34 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 73.79% and a negative net margin of 15,990.68%. Geron’s revenue was up 2941.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.