Barclays PLC Acquires 228,837 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Barclays PLC increased its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,528,749 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 228,837 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.25% of Geron worth $5,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the subject of a number of research reports. B. Riley cut Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5.38.

Geron Stock Down 2.4 %

Geron stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $1.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,843,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,353,795. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 12 month low of $1.17 and a 12 month high of $5.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.87. The company has a market capitalization of $876.39 million, a P/E ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 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.