JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 347,016 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its position in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 40.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 519,674 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 347,016 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.09% of Geron worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Geron during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,315,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Geron by 29.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 69,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 15,829 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Geron by 55.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 153,678 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 54,609 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in Geron by 18.5% during the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 36,473 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 5,689 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Geron by 124.6% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $2.99. 5,669,745 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,401,965. 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 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The company's 50-day moving average price is $3.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.15. The company has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 0.55.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $18.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. Geron's revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GERN shares. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank started 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 on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.25.

Geron 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.