Precigen, Inc. $PGEN Shares Bought by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Key Points

• Institutional ownership increased: Squarepoint Ops expanded its Precigen position by 462.8% to 353,272 shares, while several other major investors initiated or increased holdings. Institutional investors and hedge funds now own 33.51% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly positive: Precigen has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with a $14.50 average price target; HC Wainwright raised its target to $18, although Weiss Ratings maintained a sell rating.
• Strong quarterly results were offset by insider selling: Precigen reported $54.98 million in quarterly revenue and earnings of $0.05 per share, beating estimates, while insiders sold 991,271 shares worth approximately $6.2 million during the latest quarter.

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Free Report) by 462.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 353,272 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 290,505 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.10% of Precigen worth $2,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Patient Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth $108,511,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Precigen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $97,737,000. Occam Crest Management LP raised its stake in Precigen by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Occam Crest Management LP now owns 3,501,739 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,637,000 after buying an additional 799,339 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Precigen in the second quarter valued at about $10,536,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Precigen by 622.5% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,236,889 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $7,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,700 shares in the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGEN shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $14.50.

Precigen Stock Performance

Precigen stock opened at $6.85 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.89, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Precigen, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2.99 and a 52 week high of $7.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.59 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $6.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.92.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $27.98 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6322.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Precigen

In other news, CFO Harry Thomasian, Jr. sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.06, for a total value of $606,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 254,535 shares in the company, valued at $1,542,482.10. This represents a 28.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total transaction of $2,042,864.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,768,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,198,656.08. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 991,271 shares of company stock valued at $6,208,620 over the last quarter. Insiders own 41.40% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.