Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Bought by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Free Report) by 1,923.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 220,844 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 209,929 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Geron were worth $782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nvest Financial LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $693,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Geron by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $16,014,000 after purchasing an additional 73,482 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 114.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 694,931 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,143,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 10,151.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,029,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,510 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of Geron stock traded down $0.02 on Wednesday, reaching $1.40. 3,629,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,639,263. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.17 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $888.49 million, a PE ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.75.

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.