Precigen Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PGEN)

Key Points

• Precigen saw an 790% surge in call-option activity, with 27,256 calls traded versus a typical daily volume of 3,061. Shares rose 4.2% to $6.54, near the company’s 52-week high.
• The biotechnology company beat quarterly expectations, reporting a loss of $0.02 per share versus the estimated $0.03 loss and revenue of $23.25 million against a $20.81 million consensus.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $12.50. Meanwhile, insiders sold 922,728 shares worth about $5.03 million over the past quarter, while several institutional investors increased their holdings.

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 27,256 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 790% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,061 call options.

Precigen Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of Precigen stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $6.54. The stock had a trading volume of 4,316,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,457,395. Precigen has a 1 year low of $1.70 and a 1 year high of $6.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.12, a current ratio of 4.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of -5.55 and a beta of 1.02.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. Precigen had a negative net margin of 646.99% and a positive return on equity of 717.50%. The business had revenue of $23.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.81 million. On average, research analysts expect that Precigen will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Precigen news, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,768,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,198,656.08. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Donald P. Lehr sold 29,131 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.36, for a total transaction of $127,011.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 755,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,293,809.96. This trade represents a 3.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 922,728 shares of company stock worth $5,028,853. 41.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in Precigen by 141.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,824,860 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $45,248,000 after acquiring an additional 6,335,033 shares during the period. SymBiosis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Precigen in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,540,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Precigen by 201.1% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,505,992 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $8,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,673,731 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Precigen by 196.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,173,933 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $9,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occam Crest Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Precigen by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Occam Crest Management LP now owns 3,501,739 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $14,637,000 after purchasing an additional 799,339 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Precigen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, May 31st. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Precigen in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.50.

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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