Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,077,602 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 385,925 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.34% of Geron worth $7,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 82.6% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $26,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,196 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,538,822 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $118,727,000 after buying an additional 1,088,912 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Geron by 10,151.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,029,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,510 shares in the last quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the third quarter worth approximately $4,109,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Geron by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,510,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $47,826,000 after purchasing an additional 847,710 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of GERN traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $1.41. 8,674,580 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,390,310. The stock's 50-day moving average is $1.57 and its 200-day moving average is $2.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. Geron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.17 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The company has a market cap of $898.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GERN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley cut Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5.28.

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.