Ally Bridge Group NY LLC Sells 1,405,610 Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

Ally Bridge Group NY LLC reduced its stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) by 51.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,331,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,405,610 shares during the quarter. Geron comprises 3.2% of Ally Bridge Group NY LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Ally Bridge Group NY LLC’s holdings in Geron were worth $6,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Acuta Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the third quarter valued at approximately $703,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Geron by 519.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 205,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $932,000 after buying an additional 172,160 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in Geron by 210.9% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 395,071 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,794,000 after buying an additional 268,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Geron by 2.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,450,382 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,205,000 after acquiring an additional 111,361 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron in the third quarter valued at about $1,102,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GERN. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Geron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.05.

Geron Trading Up 2.7 %

GERN opened at $4.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. Geron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.64 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.03 and a beta of 0.52.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $28.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.97 million. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. Geron’s revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Geron Co. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current 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.