Invesco Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Geron Corporation $GERN

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has increased its holdings in Geron Corporation by 74.2%, bringing their total shares to 3,618,607, primarily due to significant purchases in the first quarter.
• Geron's latest quarterly earnings showed a revenue of $49.04 million, surpassing expectations, with a significant year-over-year revenue increase of 5455.6%.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating for Geron with an average target price of $4.19, despite some firms downgrading their ratings and price objectives on the stock.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 74.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,618,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 1,541,005 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.57% of Geron worth $5,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Geron by 325.0% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,794,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $6,033,000 after buying an additional 2,901,655 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 143.0% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 41,448 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 24,389 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Geron by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,146,851 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $54,293,000 after purchasing an additional 608,029 shares during the period. Kazazian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the first quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Geron by 13.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 170,441 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 20,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,413,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,129,642. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $1.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 6.79 and a current ratio of 7.87. The company has a market cap of $893.23 million, a P/E ratio of -10.77 and a beta of 0.73. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $49.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.30 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 53.52% and a negative return on equity of 31.37%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5455.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Geron

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.