Verition Fund Management LLC Purchases 34,146 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 256.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,455 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 34,146 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Geron were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GERN. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth $4,767,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Geron during the third quarter worth about $7,521,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 13.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,020,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,634,000 after acquiring an additional 118,688 shares during the last quarter. Acuta Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $703,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 519.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 205,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 172,160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN opened at $3.86 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $4.07 and a 200-day moving average of $4.35. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $5.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.06 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.15.

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.