Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Short Interest Down 8.0% in November

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 70,130,000 shares, a decline of 8.0% from the October 31st total of 76,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.2 days.

Geron Stock Down 2.2 %

GERN opened at $3.95 on Wednesday. Geron has a fifty-two week low of $1.64 and a fifty-two week high of $5.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.15 and a 200-day moving average of $4.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.34 and a beta of 0.51. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.05. Geron had a negative net margin of 682.48% and a negative return on equity of 67.53%. The company had revenue of $28.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17138.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GERN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Geron by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,869,287 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $98,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,713 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in Geron by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 64,438 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,034 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Geron by 999.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,064,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,815,000 after buying an additional 1,877,184 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Geron by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 305,347 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after buying an additional 58,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Geron during the second quarter worth about $66,000. Institutional investors own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GERN. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Geron in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright started coverage on Geron in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Geron to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.05.

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.