Vivo Capital LLC Has $50.94 Million Stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Vivo Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 46.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,143,681 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,619,047 shares during the quarter. Geron makes up 4.2% of Vivo Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Vivo Capital LLC owned approximately 4.45% of Geron worth $50,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 20.0% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 218,297 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 36,358 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 19.5% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,023 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 16,992 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Geron by 29.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 73,470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 16,653 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Geron by 40.2% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 29,866 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 8,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Geron Stock Performance

GERN traded up $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $3.89. 482,057 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,033,319. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of -10.89 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.67 and a quick ratio of 3.67. Geron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.64 and a fifty-two week high of $4.30.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 68.16% and a negative net margin of 38,730.00%. The business had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 77.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird downgraded Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.10.

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.