Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $6.04 and last traded at $5.9150, with a volume of 1701755 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Precigen from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Zacks Research raised Precigen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Precigen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.50.

Precigen Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.83 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.62, a quick ratio of 4.12 and a current ratio of 4.82.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. Precigen had a positive return on equity of 717.50% and a negative net margin of 646.99%.The company had revenue of $23.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.81 million. Analysts expect that Precigen, Inc. will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Precigen news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 42,703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.36, for a total transaction of $186,185.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 497,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,170,194.36. The trade was a 7.90% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 119,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.36, for a total transaction of $519,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,768,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,432,281.92. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 232,968 shares of company stock worth $1,015,740 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 41.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Precigen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Precigen by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,824,860 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,248,000 after buying an additional 6,335,033 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Precigen by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,462,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,653,000 after acquiring an additional 613,340 shares during the last quarter. Occam Crest Management LP grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 799,339 shares during the last quarter. SymBiosis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Precigen in the 4th quarter worth about $12,540,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Precigen by 201.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,505,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,673,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

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.