Affinity Asset Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Affinity Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 50.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,250,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Geron makes up 1.1% of Affinity Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.37% of Geron worth $7,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its position in shares of Geron by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in shares of Geron by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Geron by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 7,592 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Lazari Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Geron by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GERN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.75.

Geron Trading Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.32 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Geron Co. has a 52 week low of $1.19 and a 52 week high of $5.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.10. The stock has a market cap of $840.71 million, a P/E ratio of -4.13 and a beta of 0.66.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. Equities research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Geron

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.