Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New $5.14 Million Investment in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,452,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,143,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Geron as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Geron by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 508,872 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 12,540 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Geron by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 33,147 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 9,277 shares in the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its holdings in Geron by 158.5% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 109,651 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 67,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in Geron by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 392,696 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 71,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GERN has been the subject of several research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Geron Price Performance

GERN opened at $1.27 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $808.88 million, a P/E ratio of -3.97 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. Geron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.17 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1.76 and a 200 day moving average of $3.01.

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

Geron Company 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.