Geron Corporation $GERN is Exome Asset Management LLC's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Exome Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Geron Corporation by 106%, acquiring over 3.2 million shares and making Geron its fourth-largest holding.
• Multiple institutional investors have modified their positions in Geron, with 73.71% of the company's stock now held by institutional investors.
• Geron's recent quarterly earnings showed significant growth, with revenue rising 5455.6% compared to the same period last year.

Exome Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 106.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,215,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,654,305 shares during the quarter. Geron makes up approximately 4.4% of Exome Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Exome Asset Management LLC owned about 0.50% of Geron worth $5,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GERN. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Geron by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 61,658 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 14,181 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Geron by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,581,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $19,759,000 after buying an additional 447,201 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Geron by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,064,458 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $10,845,000 after buying an additional 247,018 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Geron by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,900,627 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $13,808,000 after buying an additional 1,262,072 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of Geron stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $1.27. The stock had a trading volume of 4,254,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,033,802. The stock's 50 day moving average is $1.34 and its 200 day moving average is $1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $810.28 million, a PE ratio of -9.77 and a beta of 0.63. Geron Corporation has a twelve month low of $1.09 and a twelve month high of $4.83. The company has a current ratio of 7.87, a quick ratio of 6.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "sell" rating and a $1.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $3.79.

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.