Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Hits New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Precigen shares reached a new 52-week high of $8.04, up from a prior close of $7.70. Analysts’ consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $14.50.
• The biotechnology company reported quarterly earnings of $0.05 per share versus expectations of a $0.01 loss, while revenue surged 6,322.7% year over year to $54.98 million.
• Institutional investors established significant new positions, but insiders sold 991,271 shares worth about $6.2 million over the past three months, including sales by the CEO and CFO under pre-arranged trading plans.

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $8.04 and last traded at $7.89, with a volume of 5323560 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. 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 report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Precigen presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.50.

Precigen Price Performance

The company's 50 day simple moving average is $6.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.09. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 3.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of -7.59 and a beta of 1.02.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $54.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.98 million. Precigen had a positive return on equity of 423.75% and a negative net margin of 183.98%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 6322.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Harry Thomasian, Jr. 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 354,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,960,578.55. The trade was a 32.59% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 991,271 shares of company stock valued at $6,208,620. 41.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precigen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Patient Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Precigen during the second quarter worth about $108,511,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth about $97,737,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,536,000. Occam Crest Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Precigen by 29.6% during the 4th 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. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Precigen during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,705,000. 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 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.

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