781,723 Shares in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 781,723 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $3,315,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.13% of Geron at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Geron by 1,200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 870.0% in the first quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Geron in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. American Trust bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Geron by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GERN stock traded down $0.04 on Monday, hitting $4.53. The stock had a trading volume of 4,955,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,784,722. The company's 50 day moving average price is $4.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.14. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.26 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.60.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $9.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus 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.