Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Buys 3,369,196 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,369,196 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned approximately 1.23% of Geron worth $26,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GERN. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron in the third quarter worth about $1,102,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Geron by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,450,382 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,205,000 after purchasing an additional 111,361 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in Geron by 210.9% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 395,071 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,794,000 after buying an additional 268,000 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 519.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 205,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $932,000 after buying an additional 172,160 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of Geron stock opened at $1.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.47 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $2.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.46 and a 1-year high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The business had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. B. Riley downgraded shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

About Geron

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.