Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

PGEN has been the subject of several other research reports. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Zacks Research cut Precigen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial initiated coverage on shares of Precigen in a research report on Friday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.67.

Precigen Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of PGEN opened at $6.94 on Friday. Precigen has a 52 week low of $3.04 and a 52 week high of $8.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.67 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 3.89 and a current ratio of 4.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.22 and a 200-day moving average of $5.27.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 6322.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Precigen will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Precigen

In related news, Director Jeffrey Kindler sold 185,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.44, for a total transaction of $1,376,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,224. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Rutul Shah sold 15,342 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total transaction of $115,065.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 468,865 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,487.50. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 301,511 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,508. Insiders own 41.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patient Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth about $108,511,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $97,737,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,536,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Precigen by 9.2% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 555,230 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,165,000 after acquiring an additional 46,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Precigen in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,705,000. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing gene and cell therapies for cancer and serious diseases. The company uses its proprietary UltraCAR-T, AdenoVerse, and other gene-engineering platforms to design potential treatments intended to improve the targeting, persistence, and manufacturing of therapeutic cells and genetic medicines.

Precigen’s pipeline has included PRGN-2012, an investigational immunotherapy based on a gorilla adenovector for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as PRGN-2001, an investigational HPV-targeted immunotherapy.