Almitas Capital LLC Buys Shares of 946,323 Geron Corporation $GERN

Almitas Capital LLC bought a new position in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 946,323 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,000. Almitas Capital LLC owned about 0.15% of Geron at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GERN. Soleus Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Geron by 572.5% during the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 16,140,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,757,000 after acquiring an additional 13,740,000 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Geron by 157.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,599,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,075,000 after acquiring an additional 2,199,413 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in Geron in the third quarter worth approximately $2,537,000. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Geron by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 23,775,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in shares of Geron by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 3,253,960 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358,068 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of GERN stock opened at $1.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.66 and a quick ratio of 3.62. Geron Corporation has a 1-year low of $1.04 and a 1-year high of $2.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.15 and a beta of 0.58.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $48.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.43 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 46.65% and a negative return on equity of 28.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GERN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.17.

Geron Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.