Vivo Capital LLC Has $89.84 Million Stock Holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Vivo Capital LLC grew its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,225,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,081,611 shares during the quarter. Geron accounts for 7.1% of Vivo Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Vivo Capital LLC owned approximately 4.98% of Geron worth $89,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Geron by 20.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 218,297 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 36,358 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,023 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 16,992 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 73,470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 16,653 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Geron by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 29,866 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 8,557 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GERN. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th.

Geron Trading Up 6.5 %

GERN traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $3.79. 7,876,644 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,915,506. Geron Co. has a one year low of $1.64 and a one year high of $4.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.30. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.48 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

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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