Braidwell LP Invests $24.80 Million in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Braidwell LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,006,315 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $24,802,000. Braidwell LP owned 1.16% of Geron at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GERN. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Geron by 114.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 694,931 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Geron by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 267,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 116,074 shares during the period. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth $93,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its position in Geron by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 403,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 61,819 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered shares of Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.06.

Geron Stock Down 6.0 %

NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.08 on Friday, hitting $1.19. 15,881,160 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,535,852. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $754.74 million, a P/E ratio of -3.70 and a beta of 0.76. Geron Co. has a twelve month low of $1.17 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1.49 and a 200 day moving average of $2.73.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12927.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.