Darwin Global Management Ltd. Buys New Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 23,915,480 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $106,185,000. Geron comprises approximately 12.4% of Darwin Global Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Darwin Global Management Ltd. owned about 4.03% of Geron as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Geron during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $175,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 last quarter. 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. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Geron by 55.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Geron by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 69,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 15,829 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners started coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Geron to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $7.06.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $4.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,435,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,824,548. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.66 and a beta of 0.50. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.09. 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 (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.34 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. The business's revenue was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total value of $3,075,026.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.