Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Increases Stock Position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 1,216.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 131,956 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 121,929 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Geron were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Geron in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of Geron by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the 4th quarter worth $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GERN shares. B. Riley downgraded shares of 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. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.28.

Geron Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GERN opened at $1.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $878.94 million, a P/E ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.88. Geron Co. has a 1 year low of $1.17 and a 1 year high of $5.34.

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

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.