Candriam S.C.A. Buys 1,081,992 Shares of Geron Corporation $GERN

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its stake in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) by 38.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,921,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,081,992 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Geron were worth $5,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Nvest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 508,474 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 279,683 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 63,642 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 20,015 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Geron by 75.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 279,083 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 120,296 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Geron Trading Down 5.3%

NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.42 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.45. Geron Corporation has a 12-month low of $1.04 and a 12-month high of $2.01. The company has a current ratio of 6.78, a quick ratio of 4.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $910.96 million, a P/E ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 0.60.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $51.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.59 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 35.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.31%. On average, analysts forecast that Geron Corporation will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Geron from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.