NEA Management Company LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

NEA Management Company LLC cut its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 78.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,776,409 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 10,000,000 shares during the quarter. Geron makes up approximately 0.9% of NEA Management Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. NEA Management Company LLC owned about 0.47% of Geron worth $11,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 1,200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 870.0% in the 1st quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. American Trust bought a new position in shares of Geron during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Geron by 32.7% during the second 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 period. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In related news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total value of $3,075,026.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Geron Trading Up 7.5 %

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $4.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.60. Geron Co. has a twelve month low of $1.64 and a twelve month high of $5.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.08.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GERN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays started coverage on Geron in a report on Monday, June 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Geron to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.06.

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.