Short Interest in bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Expands By 13.6%

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 49,570,000 shares, an increase of 13.6% from the November 15th total of 43,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in bluebird bio by 315.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 1,013,144 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 2,270.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 371,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 355,562 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,289,000 after buying an additional 186,903 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of bluebird bio by 273.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 252,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 184,605 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in bluebird bio by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,683,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 166,771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on bluebird bio from $80.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of bluebird bio in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on bluebird bio in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.14.

bluebird bio Price Performance

Shares of BLUE traded down $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.34. 720,970 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 388,291. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $8.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.11. bluebird bio has a 12-month low of $5.80 and a 12-month high of $71.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.39 and a beta of 0.72.

bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) last released its earnings results on Friday, September 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($7.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $18.57 million for the quarter. bluebird bio had a negative return on equity of 322.46% and a negative net margin of 565.74%. Research analysts expect that bluebird bio will post -1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

About bluebird bio

bluebird bio, Inc, a biotechnology company, researches, develops, and commercializes gene therapies for severe genetic diseases. Its product candidates for severe genetic diseases include ZYNTEGLO (betibeglogene autotemcel) for the treatment of transfusion-dependent ß-thalassemia; lovotibeglogene autotemcel for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD); and SKYSONA (elivaldogene autotemcel) to treat cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy.