MetLife Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Precigen, Inc. $PGEN

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Precigen, Inc., purchasing 83,181 shares valued at approximately $124,000.
• Insider trading activity includes Director Nancy H. Agee purchasing 15,000 shares for $69,000, increasing her holdings in the company.
• Precigen has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, with recent stock performance showing a 12-month low of $0.65 and a high of $5.22.

MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 83,181 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PGEN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in shares of Precigen in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Apella Capital LLC bought a new position in Precigen during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Precigen by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 51,822 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 10,900 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Precigen during the first quarter valued at about $87,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Precigen by 182.2% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 90,857 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 58,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Precigen news, Director Nancy H. Agee acquired 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.60 per share, for a total transaction of $69,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 217,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,002,068.60. The trade was a 7.39% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders bought 41,005 shares of company stock worth $167,651. Company insiders own 47.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Precigen from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $8.50 target price on shares of Precigen in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Precigen from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Precigen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Precigen has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $8.25.

Precigen Stock Down 8.5%

Shares of NASDAQ PGEN traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $3.79. 5,376,248 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,174,694. Precigen, Inc. has a 1 year low of $0.65 and a 1 year high of $5.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.02 and a beta of 1.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $2.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.93.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.03. Precigen had a negative return on equity of 842.83% and a negative net margin of 2,868.66%.The business had revenue of $0.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.67 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Precigen, Inc. will post -0.32 EPS for the current year.

Precigen Profile

Precigen, Inc operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar.