Zacks Research Downgrades Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) to Hold

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

PGEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a report on Friday, July 17th. B. Riley Financial began coverage on shares of Precigen in a research report on Friday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Precigen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PGEN opened at $7.55 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.89, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.41. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.26 and a beta of 0.92. Precigen has a 12 month low of $2.99 and a 12 month high of $8.98.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last posted 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. Precigen’s quarterly revenue was up 6322.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Precigen will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Precigen

In other news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 15,342 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $115,065.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 468,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,487.50. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, CFO Harry Thomasian, Jr. sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.06, for a total transaction of $606,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 254,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,542,482.10. This trade represents a 28.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 401,511 shares of company stock valued at $2,801,508 over the last 90 days. 41.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Precigen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in shares of Precigen by 207.8% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 40,880 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 27,600 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Precigen during the second quarter worth about $73,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Precigen by 462.8% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 353,272 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 290,505 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Precigen by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 53,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 5,086 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Precigen in the second quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc (NASDAQ:PGEN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing gene and cell therapies for serious diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases and certain immune-related conditions. The company uses its proprietary technologies to engineer therapies intended to improve treatment precision, durability and accessibility.

Precigen’s pipeline has included PRGN-2012, an investigational immunotherapy for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as programs based on its UltraCAR-T platform for cancer treatment.