Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New Investment in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 781,723 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,315,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.13% of Geron as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 115,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Geron by 1,200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Geron by 12.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 64,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Geron by 7.3% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,924 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 7,115 shares in the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GERN. Barclays assumed coverage on Geron in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners started coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Geron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.06.

Geron Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GERN opened at $4.57 on Monday. Geron Co. has a 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $5.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.06 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.61.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10). Geron had a negative return on equity of 73.79% and a negative net margin of 15,990.68%. The company had revenue of $0.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geron

In related news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of Geron stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.