Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 3,095,583 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 44.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,941,035 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 3,095,583 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.65% of Geron worth $13,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nvest Financial LLC bought a new position in Geron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $693,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Geron by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $16,014,000 after purchasing an additional 73,482 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Geron by 114.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 694,931 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth about $5,143,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Geron by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 189,614 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 12,027 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Up 2.9 %

GERN stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $1.42. The company had a trading volume of 18,394,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,401,235. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 52 week low of $1.17 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The stock has a market cap of $904.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.44 and a beta of 0.66. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $1.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.79.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GERN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Geron currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5.38.

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.