Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 68,522 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 49.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,033 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 68,522 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Geron were worth $318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Geron by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 115,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Geron by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 30,674 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,805 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Geron by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 4,094 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GERN. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Geron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.05.

Geron Trading Down 1.2 %

Geron stock opened at $4.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.18 and a 200 day moving average of $4.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.88 and a beta of 0.52. Geron Co. has a 12-month low of $1.64 and a 12-month 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.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $28.27 million during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17138.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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 year.

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.