Short Interest in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Grows By 5.9%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 49,420,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 31st total of 46,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen started coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird cut Geron from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $4.50 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Geron presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.10.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ GERN traded up $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $4.08. 16,905,693 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,353,146. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $2.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16. The company has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.62. Geron has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $4.30.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $0.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.06 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 77,691.14% and a negative return on equity of 63.33%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 77.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.10) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Geron will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. RA Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Geron by 46.5% in the third quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 46,202,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $97,949,000 after purchasing an additional 14,657,619 shares in the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC lifted its position in Geron by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 27,225,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $89,843,000 after buying an additional 3,081,611 shares in the last quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC grew its holdings in Geron by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 10,712,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $22,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,191 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Geron by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,405,626 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $22,060,000 after acquiring an additional 342,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Geron by 20.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,557,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $9,663,000 after acquiring an additional 784,822 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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