Lion Point Capital LP Sells 130,000 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Lion Point Capital LP decreased its stake in shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 130,000 shares during the period. Geron makes up 9.3% of Lion Point Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Lion Point Capital LP owned about 0.08% of Geron worth $1,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its position in shares of Geron by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 17,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing 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 valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Geron by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Lazari Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GERN. Scotiabank cut shares of Geron from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley lowered shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.06.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN opened at $1.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $754.75 million, a PE ratio of -3.70 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.89. Geron Co. has a twelve month low of $1.17 and a twelve month high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.07) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal 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.