Arizona State Retirement System Has $232,000 Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN – Get Rating) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Geron were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Geron by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 151,212 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 19,134 shares during the period. Parsec Financial Management Inc. bought a new stake in Geron during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Geron by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 78,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 6,885 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Geron by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,959 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 19,461 shares during the period. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC lifted its position in Geron by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 108,640 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 19,000 shares during the period. 49.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Geron stock opened at $3.07 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.58. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.18 and a 1 year high of $3.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.03 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 8.81 and a quick ratio of 8.81.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.02. Geron had a negative return on equity of 91.38% and a negative net margin of 30,349.19%. The business had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Geron Co. will post -0.36 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, March 17th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $3.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geron

In other Geron news, Director Susan Molineaux sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.48, for a total transaction of $86,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

About Geron

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Geron Corp. operates as a biotechnology company. It develops a telomerase inhibitor, Imetelstat, in hematologic myeloid malignancies. The firm develops therapeutic products for oncology. The company was founded by Michael D. West on November 28, 1990 and is headquartered in Foster City, CA.