State Street Corp Grows Stock Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 28.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,961,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,413,204 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.79% of Geron worth $131,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GERN. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Geron in the second quarter worth about $115,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Geron during the second quarter worth $1,076,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,016,622 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $8,550,000 after acquiring an additional 415,883 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Geron by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,924 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 7,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Geron by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 262,324 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 10,608 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Stock Performance

Geron stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3.86. The stock had a trading volume of 11,294,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,172,121. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of -12.06 and a beta of 0.51. Geron Co. has a 12 month low of $1.64 and a 12 month high of $5.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $4.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.35.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. Geron's revenue was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Geron in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Geron to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.15.

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.