Northern Trust Corp Raises Stock Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,581,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 447,201 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.92% of Geron worth $19,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Geron by 114.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,902,000 after acquiring an additional 694,931 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Geron by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 267,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 116,074 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its stake in Geron by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Geron by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 403,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 61,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of Geron stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $1.39. 14,535,772 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,647,494. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.59. Geron Co. has a 52-week low of $1.17 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $885.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 0.76.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The firm had revenue of $39.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.07) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12927.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GERN shares. HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Geron has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.06.

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.