E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 48.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,754 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 55,187 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Geron were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Geron Stock Performance

Shares of GERN stock opened at $4.74 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $4.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of -13.54 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Geron Co. has a 12 month low of $1.64 and a 12 month high of $5.34.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays began coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners started coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Geron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.06.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In other Geron news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of Geron stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

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.