Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires 13,163,889 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 140.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,163,889 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 3.73% of Geron worth $102,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth $82,498,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Geron by 11.3% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 7,072,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $32,107,000 after acquiring an additional 715,818 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 34,146 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth $4,767,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the third quarter worth $7,521,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Down 0.5 %

GERN stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $3.98. The company had a trading volume of 6,347,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,244,218. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.50 and a beta of 0.51. Geron Co. has a 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.33. 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 (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17138.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Geron currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.05.

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.