Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) is Vivo Capital LLC's 7th Largest Position

Vivo Capital LLC increased its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 46.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,143,681 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 7,619,047 shares during the quarter. Geron accounts for approximately 4.2% of Vivo Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Vivo Capital LLC owned about 4.45% of Geron worth $50,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,842,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $8,108,000 after purchasing an additional 208,170 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Geron by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,909 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 13,596 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Geron by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,237,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,611,000 after buying an additional 204,765 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Geron by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 210,890 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 25,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 367.9% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 49,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Monday, April 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $10.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered Geron from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.10.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of Geron stock traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $3.88. 4,947,050 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,086,378. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $4.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.09 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.43. The company has a quick ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 38,730.00% and a negative return on equity of 68.16%. The firm had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.06 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. Geron's revenue was down 77.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.