Polymer Capital Management US LLC Takes Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 23,998 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 13.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,020,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,634,000 after buying an additional 118,688 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 256.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 47,455 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 34,146 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Geron by 30.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 47,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 11,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Geron by 28.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,961,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $131,486,000 after buying an additional 6,413,204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Trading Up 8.6 %

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $885.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 0.66. 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 fifty-two week low of $1.19 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.17.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.75.

Geron Company 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.