Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,064,458 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 247,018 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of Geron worth $10,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,240,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Geron by 82.6% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,196 shares in the last quarter. Tri Locum Partners LP bought a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at $8,754,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter worth $5,143,000. Finally, Natixis bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,289,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank cut Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on 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 set a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set 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 given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5.06.

Geron Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $1.45. The stock had a trading volume of 11,880,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,776,645. Geron Co. has a one year low of $1.17 and a one year high of $5.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $923.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.53 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89.

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