Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Sold by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 35.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 551,168 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 300,060 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Geron were worth $2,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron during the second quarter worth approximately $106,185,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Geron during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,315,000. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in Geron during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,268,000. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 period. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ GERN opened at $3.86 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.06 and a beta of 0.51. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The firm had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.97 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 target for the company. Scotiabank began coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.