Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Stock Price Up 28.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN)’s stock price was up 28.9% during trading on Friday after HC Wainwright raised their price target on the stock from $8.50 to $9.00. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock. Precigen traded as high as $4.93 and last traded at $4.9750. Approximately 4,636,751 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 4,191,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.86.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PGEN. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Precigen from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Precigen from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Harry Jr. Thomasian bought 8,284 shares of Precigen stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $3.62 per share, for a total transaction of $29,988.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 465,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,685,812.28. This represents a 1.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Randal J. Kirk sold 1,809,667 shares of Precigen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.41, for a total value of $6,170,964.47. Following the sale, the director directly owned 14,597,161 shares in the company, valued at $49,776,319.01. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 54,221 shares of company stock worth $214,467 and have sold 6,984,279 shares worth $25,428,688. 47.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precigen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patient Capital Management LLC raised its position in Precigen by 62.6% in the third quarter. Patient Capital Management LLC now owns 26,460,848 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,056,000 after purchasing an additional 10,192,107 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Precigen by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 11,276,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $16,801,000 after buying an additional 410,595 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Precigen by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,749,182 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,325,000 after buying an additional 269,580 shares during the period. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Precigen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,755,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Precigen by 258.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 832,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 599,914 shares in the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Precigen Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.04 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.59.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.67 million. Precigen had a negative net margin of 2,868.66% and a negative return on equity of 842.83%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Precigen, Inc. will post -0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar.