Vestal Point Capital LP Buys 9,950,000 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Vestal Point Capital LP increased its stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 947.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 9,950,000 shares during the quarter. Geron accounts for approximately 2.3% of Vestal Point Capital LP's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Vestal Point Capital LP owned 1.82% of Geron worth $38,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Geron by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Geron by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Geron by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Geron by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 36,041 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 8,967 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on GERN shares. Scotiabank lowered 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 research note on Thursday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.06.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $1.48. 23,534,441 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,747,713. Geron Co. has a one year low of $1.17 and a one year high of $5.34. The firm has a market cap of $942.64 million, a P/E ratio of -4.63 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1.43 and a 200-day moving average of $2.58.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $39.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Geron's revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.