Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Trading Down 3.6% – Here’s Why

Shares of Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) were down 3.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $7.13 and last traded at $7.17. Approximately 1,029,945 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,669,477 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.44.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.50.

Precigen Stock Down 3.4%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.64. 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 market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.91 and a beta of 1.02.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.06. Precigen had a positive return on equity of 423.75% and a negative net margin of 183.98%.The company had revenue of $54.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.98 million. The company’s revenue was up 6322.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Precigen, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 42,924 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 497,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,911,843.35. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. 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, CFO Harry Jr. Thomasian sold 171,429 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.53, for a total transaction of $948,002.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 354,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,960,578.55. This represents a 32.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 989,239 shares of company stock valued at $5,472,960 in the last ninety days. 41.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Precigen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Precigen in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Precigen in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Precigen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Precigen by 102.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 5,426 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Precigen during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.