Hsbc Holdings PLC Has $134,000 Holdings in Geron Corporation $GERN

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC significantly reduced its stake in Geron Corporation by 69.6%, owning 86,528 shares valued at $134,000 after selling 198,519 shares.
• Analysts gave Geron stock an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $4.19, while Goldman Sachs set a "sell" rating with a price objective of $1.00.
• Geron reported a remarkable 5455.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, amounting to $49.04 million, while earnings per share slightly beat analysts' expectations.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its position in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 69.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,528 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 198,519 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Geron were worth $134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GERN. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its holdings in Geron by 947.6% in the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $38,940,000 after purchasing an additional 9,950,000 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in Geron by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,587,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $41,019,000 after purchasing an additional 4,549,031 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,082,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $95,769,000 after buying an additional 4,516,615 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,034,632 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $24,903,000 after buying an additional 2,914,427 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Geron by 325.0% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,794,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Down 0.7%

GERN stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $1.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,671,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,145,966. The company has a market cap of $867.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.46 and a beta of 0.63. The business's 50 day moving average price is $1.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.45. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $1.09 and a 12 month high of $4.83.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Geron in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "sell" rating and a $1.00 price objective for the company. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus 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.