Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Stake Lowered by RA Capital Management L.P.

RA Capital Management L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,009,536 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 2,276,219 shares during the quarter. Geron comprises about 1.4% of RA Capital Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. RA Capital Management L.P. owned 4.96% of Geron worth $106,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GERN. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in Geron by 82.6% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,196 shares in the last quarter. Tri Locum Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth $8,754,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,143,000. Natixis purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at $4,289,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Geron by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,538,822 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $118,727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,912 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of GERN stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,051,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,373,087. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $1.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $878.94 million, a PE ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $45.29 million. On average, research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GERN shares. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5.38.

Geron 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.