Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Raymond James Financial set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Precigen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.50.

Precigen Stock Down 4.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:PGEN opened at $4.52 on Friday. Precigen has a 12 month low of $3.04 and a 12 month high of $8.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $6.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.28. The company has a quick ratio of 4.83, a current ratio of 5.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.20 and a beta of 1.01.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.02. Precigen had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 57.93%. The firm had revenue of $74.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.06) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2437.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Precigen will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Precigen

In other news, COO Rutul Shah sold 34,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $259,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 465,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,487,590. This trade represents a 6.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Jeffrey Kindler sold 185,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director directly owned 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $127,224. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 235,000 shares of company stock worth $1,751,400. Corporate insiders own 41.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precigen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Precigen during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Precigen in the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Precigen by 847.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,426 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 5,748 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Precigen in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Precigen by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 5,426 shares during the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene and cell therapies, including engineered immunotherapies. The company is based in Germantown, Maryland, and its roots include Intrexon, which adopted the Precigen name in 2020. Its approved product, PAPZIMEOS (zopapogene imadenovec-drba), is a gene therapy for adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, a rare condition associated with human papillomavirus types 6 and 11. Precigen is also developing investigational therapies for cancers and other diseases.