American Trust Invests $38,000 in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN)

American Trust bought a new stake in Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,377 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in Geron by 870.0% during the 1st quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Geron during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Geron by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC now owns 24,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 3,650 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Geron by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,909 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 13,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Geron by 367.9% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 49,394 shares during the last quarter. 73.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ:GERN traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $4.57. 14,100,422 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,957,314. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.45 and its 200-day moving average is $3.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.06 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.67 and a quick ratio of 3.67. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 68.16% and a negative net margin of 38,730.00%. The business had revenue of $0.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.15 million. Equities research analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GERN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on Geron in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Geron in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Geron from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.93.

Insider Transactions at Geron

In other news, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total transaction of $3,075,026.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Faye Feller sold 287,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $1,332,977.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Andrew J. Grethlein sold 674,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.56, for a total value of $3,075,026.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,562,248 shares of company stock worth $6,808,004 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Geron 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.