bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Short Interest Down 6.6% in January

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,410,000 shares, a decline of 6.6% from the December 31st total of 2,580,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 405,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days. Approximately 25.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On bluebird bio

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLUE. Barclays PLC grew its position in bluebird bio by 273.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 252,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 184,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 3.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,683,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after buying an additional 166,771 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,841,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after buying an additional 43,382 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of bluebird bio during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 48.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 237,648 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 77,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

bluebird bio Stock Down 9.3 %

BLUE stock traded down $0.72 on Monday, hitting $7.03. 403,812 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 198,134. bluebird bio has a 12-month low of $5.80 and a 12-month high of $38.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.14. 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 stock has a market cap of $68.35 million, a P/E ratio of -0.19 and a beta of 0.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLUE. Barclays increased their target price on shares of bluebird bio from $2.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of bluebird bio in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America downgraded shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on bluebird bio in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, bluebird bio currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.14.

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.