Barclays PLC Purchases 228,837 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Barclays PLC increased its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,528,749 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 228,837 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.25% of Geron worth $5,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in shares of Geron by 82.6% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 7,446,275 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,196 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,143,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Geron by 3.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Geron by 10,151.4% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,029,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,674,000 after buying an additional 1,019,510 shares during the period. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,109,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Geron Price Performance

GERN stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.38. The company had a trading volume of 7,280,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,468,579. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $878.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.66. Geron Co. has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.89.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley lowered Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Geron has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.