Alliancebernstein L.P. Cuts Stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 49.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 625,291 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 604,491 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of Geron worth $2,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Geron by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 1,850,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $6,549,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Geron by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,510,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $47,826,000 after purchasing an additional 847,710 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in Geron by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 92,243 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 13,594 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in Geron by 82.6% in the 4th quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $26,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,196 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Geron by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,538,822 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $118,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,912 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GERN traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,976,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,512,379. The business's 50 day moving average is $1.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.98. Geron Co. has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $898.05 million, a P/E ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $47.54 million during 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GERN shares. HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.