Kodai Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Geron Corporation $GERN

Key Points

• Kodai Capital Management LP has purchased 893,091 shares of Geron Corporation, valued at approximately $1.42 million, making up around 0.14% of the company's stock.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Geron, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target averaging $4.19, despite Goldman Sachs issuing a "sell" rating with a $1.00 target.
• Geron Corporation reported a significant increase in revenue of 5455.6% year-over-year, with earnings per share of ($0.02), beating analysts' estimates.

Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 893,091 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,420,000. Kodai Capital Management LP owned about 0.14% of Geron as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $247,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 347,919 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 24,260 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Geron by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 61,658 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 14,181 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Geron by 378.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 285,047 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 225,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GERN has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank lowered Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Geron in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $1.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $4.19.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $1.47. The company had a trading volume of 11,774,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,341,773. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $1.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 7.87 and a quick ratio of 6.79. Geron Corporation has a one year low of $1.09 and a one year high of $4.83. The company has a market capitalization of $937.89 million, a PE ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 0.63.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $49.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.30 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 31.37% and a negative net margin of 53.52%.The firm's revenue was up 5455.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.10) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Geron Corporation 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.