Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Precigen Call Options (NASDAQ:PGEN)

Key Points

• Precigen call-option activity surged: Investors purchased 31,516 call options, 704% above the average volume of 3,919, signaling unusually strong speculative interest in PGEN.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $14.50 target price, although Weiss Ratings maintained a sell rating.
• Precigen shares rose to $6.99, near their 52-week high, while institutional investors—including Patient Capital Management and BlackRock—built significant positions. Insiders, however, sold nearly 989,239 shares worth $5.47 million during the quarter.

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 31,516 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 704% compared to the average volume of 3,919 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on PGEN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research raised Precigen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citizens Jmp raised their target price on Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $14.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Precigen news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 42,924 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $251,105.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 497,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,911,843.35. This trade represents a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,768,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,198,656.08. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. 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 quarter, insiders sold 989,239 shares of company stock valued at $5,472,960. 41.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Precigen

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Patient Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Precigen during the second quarter valued at approximately $108,511,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Precigen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $97,737,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Precigen by 141.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,824,860 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $45,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,335,033 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Precigen by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,462,078 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $18,653,000 after purchasing an additional 613,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occam Crest Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Precigen by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Occam Crest Management LP now owns 3,501,739 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $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.

Precigen Stock Performance

NASDAQ PGEN traded up $0.23 on Wednesday, hitting $6.99. 3,685,239 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,645,691. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 3.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Precigen has a 1-year low of $2.94 and a 1-year high of $7.32. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $5.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 1.02.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $54.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $27.98 million. Precigen had a negative net margin of 183.98% and a positive return on equity of 423.75%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6322.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Precigen will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

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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