Aptose Biosciences Inc. (APTO) Reaches $2.76 After 4.00% Down Move; Geron (GERN) Shorts Up By 5.84%

January 18, 2018 - By Dolores Ford

The stock of Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) is a huge mover today! The stock decreased 2.13% or $0.06 during the last trading session, reaching $2.76. About 219,490 shares traded. Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) has declined 60.81% since January 18, 2017 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 77.51% the S&P500.The move comes after 7 months negative chart setup for the $71.48 million company. It was reported on Jan, 18 by Barchart.com. We have $2.65 PT which if reached, will make NASDAQ:APTO worth $2.86M less.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) had an increase of 5.84% in short interest. GERN’s SI was 30.10 million shares in January as released by FINRA. Its up 5.84% from 28.44M shares previously. With 1.06M avg volume, 28 days are for Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN)’s short sellers to cover GERN’s short positions. The SI to Geron Corporation’s float is 19.01%. The stock decreased 1.04% or $0.021 during the last trading session, reaching $1.969. About 505,874 shares traded. Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has risen 13.81% since January 18, 2017 and is uptrending. It has underperformed by 2.89% the S&P500.

Investors sentiment decreased to 0.97 in Q3 2017. Its down 0.24, from 1.21 in 2017Q2. It is negative, as 10 investors sold Geron Corporation shares while 27 reduced holdings. 11 funds opened positions while 25 raised stakes. 61.75 million shares or 0.63% more from 61.36 million shares in 2017Q2 were reported. Moreover, New York State Common Retirement Fund has 0% invested in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Legal General Public Limited Co invested 0% of its portfolio in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Bb&T Ltd Liability invested 0% of its portfolio in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Millennium Mngmt Limited Liability Corporation invested in 0% or 15,116 shares. Manufacturers Life Ins The has 0% invested in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Prudential reported 0% of its portfolio in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Morgan Stanley accumulated 254,169 shares. The Ontario – Canada-based Bancorporation Of Montreal Can has invested 0% in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). Rhumbline Advisers, Massachusetts-based fund reported 171,179 shares. State Of Wisconsin Inv Board reported 0% stake. Proshare Advsrs Ltd accumulated 99,896 shares. State Street reported 5.09 million shares or 0% of all its holdings. Intl Gru Inc, a New York-based fund reported 99,679 shares. Sns Grp Incorporated Limited Com, Minnesota-based fund reported 10,000 shares. Blackrock holds 12.21 million shares or 0% of its portfolio.

Among 3 analysts covering Geron (NASDAQ:GERN), 2 have Buy rating, 0 Sell and 1 Hold. Therefore 67% are positive. Geron had 5 analyst reports since August 8, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. As per Monday, August 10, the company rating was maintained by MLV. FBR Capital maintained Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) rating on Tuesday, September 13. FBR Capital has “Outperform” rating and $5 target. The firm has “Hold” rating by Stifel Nicolaus given on Tuesday, August 1. The company was downgraded on Saturday, August 8 by Zacks. The rating was maintained by Piper Jaffray with “Overweight” on Monday, December 7.

Geron Corporation operates as a biopharmaceutical company. The company has market cap of $313.59 million. The firm supports the clinical stage development of a telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, for treating hematologic myeloid malignancies. It currently has negative earnings. It has collaboration and license agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. to develop and commercialize imetelstat worldwide for indications in oncology, including hematologic myeloid malignancies and other human therapeutic uses.

Aptose Biosciences Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops personalized therapies addressing unmet medical needs in oncology in Canada. The company has market cap of $71.48 million. The Company’s lead clinical program is APTO-253, which is a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies. It currently has negative earnings. The firm has an agreement with CrystalGenomics, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize CG026806, a non-covalent small molecule therapeutic agent, which is in preclinical stage for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/mantle cell lymphoma.

Among 5 analysts covering Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ:APTO), 4 have Buy rating, 0 Sell and 1 Hold. Therefore 80% are positive. Aptose Biosciences had 15 analyst reports since August 7, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. The firm has “Outperform” rating by RBC Capital Markets given on Wednesday, November 16. The rating was upgraded by Zacks to “Hold” on Friday, August 7. On Thursday, June 8 the stock rating was initiated by H.C. Wainwright with “Hold”. The stock of Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) has “Buy” rating given on Monday, October 30 by H.C. Wainwright. The firm has “Hold” rating given on Wednesday, August 9 by H.C. Wainwright. The rating was maintained by H.C. Wainwright with “Buy” on Wednesday, November 15. RBC Capital Markets maintained the shares of APTO in report on Wednesday, November 11 with “Outperform” rating. The firm earned “Neutral” rating on Friday, November 20 by Roth Capital. Roth Capital upgraded it to “Buy” rating and $8 target in Monday, June 13 report. The stock has “Buy” rating by H.C. Wainwright on Thursday, September 7.

Analysts await Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) to report earnings on March, 27. They expect $-0.14 EPS, up 26.32% or $0.05 from last year’s $-0.19 per share. After $-0.11 actual EPS reported by Aptose Biosciences Inc. for the previous quarter, Wall Street now forecasts 27.27% negative EPS growth.