Arizona State Retirement System Sells 20,647 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 20,647 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Geron were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GERN. Pathstone Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Geron in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Geron by 101.3% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,426 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 6,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GERN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Geron from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Geron Stock Performance

Geron stock opened at $3.69 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $4.05. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of -11.18 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $2.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.24.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $0.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.06 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 77,691.14% and a negative return on equity of 63.33%. Geron’s revenue for the quarter was down 77.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.10) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Geron Co. will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

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.