Exome Asset Management LLC Invests $4.11 Million in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Exome Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 905,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,109,000. Geron makes up about 2.7% of Exome Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Exome Asset Management LLC owned 0.15% of Geron at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RTW Investments LP purchased a new position in Geron in the third quarter worth $200,268,000. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Geron in the second quarter worth about $106,185,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Geron in the third quarter valued at about $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Geron by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Geron by 124.6% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $3.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.34. Geron Co. has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.06 and a beta of 0.51. 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 (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The business had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GERN. Scotiabank started coverage on Geron in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.