Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 45,630,000 shares, a decline of 21.9% from the February 28th total of 58,410,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,110,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Geron Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, hitting $1.59. The stock had a trading volume of 20,627,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,281,747. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.37. Geron has a one year low of $1.46 and a one year high of $5.34. 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 (NASDAQ:GERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $47.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Sell-side analysts predict that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GERN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays reiterated 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. B. Riley downgraded Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Geron by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,510,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,826,000 after buying an additional 847,710 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Geron by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 484,962 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after acquiring an additional 52,846 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new position in Geron during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Geron by 121.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 91,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 50,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Geron by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 330,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 80,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

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.