Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Precigen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Precigen from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $12.00 target price on Precigen in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Precigen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.50.

Precigen Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of PGEN opened at $4.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 3.89. Precigen has a 1 year low of $3.04 and a 1 year high of $8.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.29. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.02. Precigen had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 86.42%. The firm had revenue of $74.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2437.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Precigen will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Rutul Shah sold 34,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $259,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 465,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,487,590. This trade represents a 6.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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. Also, Director Jeffrey Kindler sold 185,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.44, for a total transaction of $1,376,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $127,224. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 235,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,751,400 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 41.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precigen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patient Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Precigen in the 2nd quarter worth about $108,511,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Precigen in the second quarter worth about $97,737,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Precigen in the second quarter worth about $10,536,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Precigen by 708.3% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 459,783 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,936,000 after acquiring an additional 402,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Precigen by 9.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 555,230 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,165,000 after acquiring an additional 46,796 shares during the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Precigen Company Profile