Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys New Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,452,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $5,143,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.24% of Geron as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its holdings in Geron by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Lazari Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Geron by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GERN shares. HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley cut Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Geron Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GERN traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $1.41. The company had a trading volume of 3,861,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,578,652. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 52 week low of $1.17 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The company's 50 day moving average price is $1.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.97. The stock has a market cap of $894.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.39 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

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.