Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 102,790 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 146.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 172,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,790 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Geron were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,102,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,450,382 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,205,000 after acquiring an additional 111,361 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 210.9% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 395,071 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 268,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 519.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 205,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $932,000 after acquiring an additional 172,160 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geron Price Performance

GERN stock opened at $1.82 on Friday. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.46 and a 1 year high of $5.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -5.69 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.48. 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 Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GERN has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

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.