Geron Corporation $GERN Shares Sold by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Key Points

• Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC reduced its Geron stake by 25.8% in Q3, selling 1,856,968 shares and ending the quarter with 5,335,216 shares (about 0.84% of the company) valued at roughly $7.31 million.
• Institutional ownership is high (73.71%), with active repositioning by funds—Squarepoint Ops up 157.1%, Candriam up 71.6%, and Geode holding 14,152,038 shares—indicating significant institutional trading interest.
• Geron is trading around $1.47 with a market cap of about $942 million, reported negative EPS (missed the quarter), and carries a consensus analyst rating of Hold with a $2.17 price target.

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its position in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 25.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,335,216 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 1,856,968 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned approximately 0.84% of Geron worth $7,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Geron by 157.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,599,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,199,413 shares during the last quarter. Patient Square Capital LP purchased a new position in Geron in the second quarter valued at $1,010,000. Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in Geron by 71.6% in the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 3,253,960 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,458,000 after buying an additional 1,358,068 shares during the last quarter. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. acquired a new stake in Geron in the second quarter valued at $1,937,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Geron by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,038 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $19,956,000 after buying an additional 584,444 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Trading Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.47 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $1.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $941.59 million, a PE ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 4.87, a current ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Geron Corporation has a 52-week low of $1.04 and a 52-week high of $2.01.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $48.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $50.43 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 46.65% and a negative return on equity of 28.86%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Geron from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $2.17.

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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