1,896,010 Shares in Geron Corporation $GERN Purchased by Candriam S.C.A.

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new stake in Geron Corporation, purchasing 1,896,010 shares valued at approximately $3,015,000, reflecting a 0.30% ownership in the company.
• Geron Corporation reported a 5455.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $49.04 million, and beat EPS estimates by $0.01.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Geron, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target forecast of $4.19.

Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,896,010 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $3,015,000. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.30% of Geron at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 84.3% during the first quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, 111 Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Geron Stock Performance

GERN traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $1.41. The stock had a trading volume of 4,425,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,441,479. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $1.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.54. Geron Corporation has a 1 year low of $1.09 and a 1 year high of $4.83. The stock has a market cap of $899.60 million, a PE ratio of -10.85 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 6.79, a current ratio of 7.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 31.37% and a negative net margin of 53.52%.The company had revenue of $49.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5455.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current 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.