Affinity Asset Advisors LLC Sells 1,000,000 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Affinity Asset Advisors LLC cut its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 1,000,000 shares during the period. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC owned about 0.25% of Geron worth $6,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Geron by 124.6% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 36,473 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 5,689 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Geron by 55.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 153,678 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 54,609 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Geron by 29.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 69,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 15,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,315,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.51. 4,765,108 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,837,530. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.89 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61. Geron Co. has a 52 week low of $1.64 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $4.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.08.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). Geron had a negative net margin of 15,990.68% and a negative return on equity of 73.79%. The business had revenue of $0.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.34 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Geron's revenue was up 2941.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Geron

In related news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of Geron stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GERN shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised Geron to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Leerink Partnrs raised Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Geron has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $7.06.

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.