abrdn plc Acquires New Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

abrdn plc acquired a new stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,487,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $6,752,000. abrdn plc owned about 0.25% of Geron as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new position in Geron during the second quarter valued at approximately $106,185,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Geron during the first quarter valued at $333,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the second quarter valued at $3,315,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 999.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $6,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,877,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron during the second quarter valued at $539,000. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Stock Performance

GERN remained flat at $4.11 during mid-day trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 8,092,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,808,587. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $4.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.29. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.42 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GERN. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Geron to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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 one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.94.

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.