Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Shares of Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $4.15, but opened at $4.58. Precigen shares last traded at $4.5190, with a volume of 1,827,795 shares changing hands.

The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. Precigen had a negative net margin of 2,588.21% and a positive return on equity of 2,317.96%. The company had revenue of $23.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.81 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGEN. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research raised Precigen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Precigen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their target price on shares of Precigen from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Insider Transactions at Precigen

In other Precigen news, Director Randal J. Kirk sold 4,772,781 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.30, for a total value of $15,750,177.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 302,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,302.90. The trade was a 94.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 47.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Precigen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Precigen by 0.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 374,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,250 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Precigen in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,338,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Precigen in the first quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Precigen in the first quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Precigen Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $3.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.47 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46.

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.