Geron Corporation (GERN) And Lannett Company, Inc. (LCI): Two Pharmaceutical Stocks Making Big Gains For Very Different Reasons

Hedge funds are not too fond of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). The collective value of their holdings in the stock went down by 5.02% in the second quarter to $23.62 million. That was despite a 13.53% increase in the stock’s price during said period, and an increase of one to 11 in terms of the number of hedge funds which are long on the stock. Furthermore, hedge fund holdings accounted for only 3.50% of the outstanding shares of the firm. James A. Silverman’s Opaleye Management held the largest stake among the institutions we track, owning about 1.83 million shares on June 30. Meanwhile, D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. founded by David E. Shaw increased its stake by 68% to 1.35 million shares by the end of June. Millennium Management, led by Israel Englander, on the other hand, decreased its stake by 71% to 370,424 shares.

The same cannot be said about Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSE:LCI), which may have experienced a measly 0.58% increase in total hedge fund holdings in the second quarter to $184.96 million, but given the fact that its shares slid by 12.21% from April to the end of June, the amount of capital invested in the stock during the quarter was actually much greater, even as hedge funds with position in the stock dipped to 17 from 19. Moreover, hedge funds long on the stock held a total of 8.60% of Lannett’s shares at the end of the second quarter. Gotham Asset Management, helmed by Joel Greenblatt increased its stake by 12% to about 1.73 million shares, while Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates’ increased its holding by 177% to 429,281 shares. However, Millennium Management was also bearish on this stock, exiting its position by selling all 96,051 shares it had owned as of March 31.

Disclosure: None