Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 7,075,000 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 24.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,800,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 7,075,000 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 3.61% of Geron worth $77,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Syon Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $180,000. Harvest Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Diadema Partners LP purchased a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $708,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 378.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 285,047 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 225,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Geron by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 61,658 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Geron presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5.75.

Geron Stock Down 2.5 %

GERN stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.37. 4,050,127 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,456,089. Geron Co. has a twelve month low of $1.17 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $869.39 million, a PE ratio of -4.27 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. On average, research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share 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.