Geron Corporation $GERN Shares Bought by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) by 42.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,982,968 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,393,786 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Geron were worth $9,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Geron in the second quarter worth approximately $62,868,000. Eversept Partners LP raised its position in shares of Geron by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 18,834,883 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174,900 shares during the period. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron during the 2nd quarter valued at $15,648,000. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its holdings in Geron by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 4,888,304 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,284,000 after buying an additional 99,710 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Geron by 68.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,556,278 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,789,000 after buying an additional 1,858,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush decreased their price target on Geron to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Geron from $4.00 to $2.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.75.

Geron Price Performance

GERN stock opened at $1.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 5.16 and a current ratio of 6.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.41. Geron Corporation has a one year low of $0.84 and a one year high of $2.01. The company has a market capitalization of $640.22 million, a PE ratio of -12.46 and a beta of 0.62.

Geron Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments for blood cancers and other serious hematologic diseases. Its lead product, Rytelo (imetelstat), is a telomerase inhibitor designed to target malignant blood-forming cells.

Rytelo is approved in the United States for adults with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes who have transfusion-dependent anemia requiring regular red blood cell transfusions and have not responded adequately to, or are not eligible for, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.