Short Interest in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Increases By 29.6%

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 57,860,000 shares, a growth of 29.6% from the July 15th total of 44,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Geron Price Performance

Shares of GERN stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $4.50. The stock had a trading volume of 6,517,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,304,647. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of -12.86 and a beta of 0.48. Geron has a 12 month low of $1.64 and a 12 month high of $5.34. The company has a current ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.10). The company had revenue of $0.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.34 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 68.16% and a negative net margin of 38,730.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2941.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Geron will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GERN. Robert W. Baird downgraded Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised Geron to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Geron from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Geron in a report on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.07.

Insider Activity at Geron

In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO John A. Scarlett sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $2,400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total transaction of $1,332,977.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,808,004 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $98,569,000 after buying an additional 1,304,713 shares during the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Geron by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 27,225,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,081,611 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Geron in the 2nd quarter valued at $106,185,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Geron by 124.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 16,837,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,389,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Geron by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,842,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,108,000 after purchasing an additional 208,170 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.