Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Hits New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Precigen shares reached a new 52-week high of $7.34, up from a prior close of $7.16, with 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $5.70 and $4.62, respectively.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.50; HC Wainwright recently raised its target to $18.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $54.98 million in revenue and $0.05 EPS, but insiders sold nearly 989,000 shares worth $5.47 million over the past three months under pre-arranged trading plans.

Shares of Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $7.34 and last traded at $7.34, with a volume of 3028414 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $7.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright upped their price target 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. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Precigen currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $14.50.

Precigen Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.70 and a 200 day moving average of $4.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.06 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.06. Precigen had a negative net margin of 183.98% and a positive return on equity of 423.75%. The firm had revenue of $54.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.98 million. The business's revenue was up 6322.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Precigen news, CFO Harry Jr. Thomasian sold 171,429 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.53, for a total transaction of $948,002.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 354,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,960,578.55. This trade represents a 32.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of Precigen stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total value of $2,042,864.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,768,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,198,656.08. This trade 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 have sold 989,239 shares of company stock worth $5,472,960 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 41.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Precigen

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PGEN. Xponance LLC grew its holdings in Precigen by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 14,191 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,496 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Precigen by 6.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,796 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,993 shares in the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Precigen by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 21,217 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Precigen by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 63,018 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,137 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Precigen by 0.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 374,514 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company's stock.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc NASDAQ: PGEN is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of genetic medicines. The company leverages proprietary gene and cell therapy platforms to design targeted therapies for oncology, infectious diseases and rare conditions. Precigen's approach combines synthetic biology, immuno-oncology and microbiome engineering to create precision treatments intended to enhance efficacy while minimizing off-target effects.

The centerpiece of Precigen's technology is its OmniCAR platform, which enables the rapid generation of adaptable chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell products.

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