Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $247,000 in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 69,705 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,961,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $131,486,000 after purchasing an additional 6,413,204 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,067,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $59,339,000 after purchasing an additional 231,178 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Geron by 4.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,662,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,487,000 after acquiring an additional 570,580 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Geron by 1.7% during 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 buying an additional 73,482 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its stake in Geron by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,847,285 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,539,000 after purchasing an additional 360,027 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $827.98 million, a P/E ratio of -4.06 and a beta of 0.66. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $1.19 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1.96 and its 200 day moving average is $3.15.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The business had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GERN. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.