Candriam S.C.A. Increases Stock Position in Geron Corporation $GERN

Candriam S.C.A. grew its holdings in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 38.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,921,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,081,992 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.61% of Geron worth $5,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 59.6% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 9,527,083 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $12,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,556,160 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Geron by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,660,969 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $47,072,000 after buying an additional 1,237,844 shares during the period. Eversept Partners LP increased its holdings in Geron by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 17,659,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $23,311,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,981 shares in the last quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,027,000. Finally, Vistica Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Geron Trading Down 5.3%

GERN stock opened at $1.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.45. Geron Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $1.04 and a fifty-two week high of $2.01. The firm has a market cap of $910.96 million, a PE ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 4.96 and a current ratio of 6.78.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. Geron had a negative net margin of 35.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.31%. The business had revenue of $51.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $50.59 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Geron Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded Geron from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation NASDAQ: GERN is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company's research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.

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