Precigen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PGEN)

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 31,516 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 704% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,919 call options.

Precigen Price Performance

Shares of Precigen stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $6.99. 3,685,239 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,645,691. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 3.89, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Precigen has a 1 year low of $2.94 and a 1 year high of $7.32.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $54.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.98 million. Precigen had a negative net margin of 183.98% and a positive return on equity of 423.75%. Precigen’s quarterly revenue was up 6322.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Precigen will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Rutul R. Shah sold 32,739 shares of Precigen stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.86, for a total value of $224,589.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 465,012 shares in the company, valued at $3,189,982.32. The trade was a 6.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Harry Jr. Thomasian sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.06, for a total value of $606,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 254,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,542,482.10. The trade was a 28.21% decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. Insiders own 41.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PGEN. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Precigen in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Precigen during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Precigen during the third quarter worth $39,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Precigen by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 5,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Precigen in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGEN. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on shares of Precigen from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Precigen from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of Precigen from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.50.

Precigen Company Profile

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.