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

Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 10,952 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 72% compared to the average volume of 6,383 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Precigen

In other news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 106,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.38, for a total value of $361,109.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 346,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,169,716.60. The trade was a 23.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Harry Jr. Thomasian purchased 8,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $3.62 per share, with a total value of $29,988.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 465,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,685,812.28. This trade represents a 1.81% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 54,221 shares of company stock worth $214,467 and sold 6,984,279 shares worth $25,428,688. Company insiders own 47.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Precigen

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Patient Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Precigen by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Patient Capital Management LLC now owns 26,460,848 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,056,000 after acquiring an additional 10,192,107 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Precigen by 3.8% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 11,276,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,801,000 after purchasing an additional 410,595 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Precigen by 7.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,749,182 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,325,000 after purchasing an additional 269,580 shares during the last quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Precigen in the first quarter worth about $4,755,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Precigen by 258.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 832,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 599,914 shares during the period. 33.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Precigen from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Precigen in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Precigen in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Precigen from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Precigen from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Precigen Trading Up 27.4%

Shares of PGEN stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $4.92. 10,973,982 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,226,173. Precigen has a 1 year low of $0.65 and a 1 year high of $5.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -11.73 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.59.

Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.67 million. Precigen had a negative return on equity of 842.83% and a negative net margin of 2,868.66%. On average, equities analysts expect that Precigen will post -0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar.