Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Geron (NASDAQ:GERN)

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 10,326 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,439% compared to the typical volume of 671 call options.

Geron Trading Up 19.4%

Shares of GERN stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $1.60. 14,208,704 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,977,821. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.55 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 4.96, a current ratio of 6.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Geron has a fifty-two week low of $1.04 and a fifty-two week high of $2.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.46.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). Geron had a negative net margin of 35.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.31%. Equities analysts expect that Geron will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 55 North Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. LCM Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Geron by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 22,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Vistica Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Geron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Geron during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in Geron by 3,307.6% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 25,148 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 24,410 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered Geron from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Geron Company Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments that target telomerase, an enzyme critical to cancer cell immortality. The company’s research is focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, with a pipeline designed to address diseases that have historically had limited therapeutic options.

The lead product candidate, imetelstat, is a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor currently in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes.