Investors Purchase Large Volume of Geron Call Options (NASDAQ:GERN)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders purchased 10,326 Geron call options, 1,439% above the stock’s average daily call volume of 671.
• Stock performance: Geron shares rose $0.26 to $1.60, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $1.03 billion. The stock has traded between $1.04 and $2.01 over the past year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Geron has an overall “Hold” rating and an average price target of $4.00, while Weiss Ratings recently downgraded the stock to “sell.” The company also missed its latest quarterly earnings estimate.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 10,326 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,439% compared to the average daily volume of 671 call options.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN traded up $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $1.60. 14,208,704 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,977,821. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.46. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of -14.55 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 6.78, a quick ratio of 4.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.04 and a 12-month high of $2.01.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.01). Geron had a negative return on equity of 23.31% and a negative net margin of 35.48%. On average, analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GERN. 55 North Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Geron in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. LCM Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Geron by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 22,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Vistica Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Geron by 3,307.6% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 25,148 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 24,410 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut Geron from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.00.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation NASDAQ: GERN is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company's research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source