Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Stock Price Up 5.5% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Precigen shares rose 5.5% to $6.44, although trading volume was 89% below the stock’s average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $14.50; HC Wainwright recently raised its target to $18.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with $54.98 million in revenue and $0.05 EPS, but it remains deeply unprofitable, while insiders have sold nearly 1 million shares over the past three months.

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 5.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $6.46 and last traded at $6.4350. 485,627 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 4,615,058 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PGEN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright raised 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. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Precigen currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.50.

Precigen Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.49 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 3.89. The stock's 50 day moving average is $5.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.57.

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 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 company had revenue of $54.98 million during 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Donald P. Lehr sold 29,131 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.36, for a total value of $127,011.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 755,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,293,809.96. This represents a 3.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,768,872 shares in the company, valued at $22,198,656.08. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 989,239 shares of company stock worth $5,472,960. Corporate insiders own 41.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PGEN. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Precigen in the first quarter worth $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Precigen in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Precigen in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Abel Hall LLC bought a new stake in shares of Precigen in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Precigen by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,714 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 5,426 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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