Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $7.70, but opened at $8.08. Precigen shares last traded at $7.8220, with a volume of 1,891,151 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on PGEN. B. Riley Financial began coverage on Precigen in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Precigen Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 3.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $6.72 and a 200-day moving average of $5.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.47 and a beta of 1.02.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.06. Precigen had a positive return on equity of 423.75% and a negative net margin of 183.98%.The firm had revenue of $54.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.98 million. The business’s revenue was up 6322.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Precigen

In other Precigen news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 42,924 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $251,105.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 497,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,911,843.35. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 185,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.44, for a total transaction of $1,376,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,224. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 991,271 shares of company stock valued at $6,208,620. 41.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PGEN. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Precigen by 207.8% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 40,880 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 27,600 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Precigen during the second quarter worth approximately $73,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Precigen by 462.8% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 353,272 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 290,505 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Precigen by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 53,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 5,086 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Precigen in the 2nd quarter valued at $227,000. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Precigen Company Profile

Precigen, Inc (NASDAQ:PGEN) is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene and cell therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. The company uses its synthetic biology platforms to engineer targeted medicines designed to improve treatment effectiveness, durability and safety.

Precigen’s technology portfolio includes its UltraCAR-T platform for developing next-generation CAR-T cell therapies, the AdenoVerse platform for gene delivery and immunotherapy applications, and ActoBiotics technology for the localized delivery of therapeutic proteins.