Traders Purchase Large Volume of Precigen Call Options (NASDAQ:PGEN)

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 5,112 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 116% compared to the typical volume of 2,366 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGEN shares. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Precigen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Precigen from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Precigen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Precigen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.50.

Insider Activity at Precigen

In other news, CEO Helen Sabzevari sold 346,836 shares of Precigen stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total value of $2,042,864.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,768,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,198,656.08. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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. Also, insider Donald P. Lehr sold 29,131 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.36, for a total value of $127,011.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 755,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,809.96. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 822,728 shares of company stock valued at $4,422,853. 41.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precigen

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Precigen by 141.1% during the 4th 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. SymBiosis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Precigen during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,540,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $8,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,673,731 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Precigen by 196.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,173,933 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Precigen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,796,000. 33.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Precigen Trading Up 0.1%

Precigen stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,137,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,561,722. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.62, a quick ratio of 4.12 and a current ratio of 4.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.55 and a 200-day moving average of $4.27. Precigen has a one year low of $1.47 and a one year high of $6.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of -4.67 and a beta of 1.00.

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

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.