Vivo Capital LLC Sells 18,553,495 Shares of Geron Corporation $GERN

Vivo Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) by 68.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,671,797 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 18,553,495 shares during the quarter. Geron makes up about 1.1% of Vivo Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Vivo Capital LLC owned approximately 1.35% of Geron worth $12,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GERN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Geron by 20.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,519 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 6,713 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,891 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 7,840 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Geron by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 392,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 8,123 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Geron by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 92,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 9,849 shares during the period. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP grew its position in shares of Geron by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP now owns 80,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Geron Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of Geron stock opened at $1.35 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.46. The stock has a market cap of $863.49 million, a PE ratio of -12.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 4.96, a current ratio of 6.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Geron Corporation has a 12 month low of $1.04 and a 12 month high of $2.01.

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

Geron 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.