bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

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

bluebird bio Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BLUE traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.35. The company had a trading volume of 109,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 426,810. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. bluebird bio has a 12-month low of $5.80 and a 12-month high of $38.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.18.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On bluebird bio

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 315.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,144 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 685,757 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 111,574 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 292,436 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 59,219 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 152.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 74,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 273.7% in 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 in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLUE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lowered shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of bluebird bio in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of bluebird bio from $60.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of bluebird bio in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.14.

bluebird bio Company Profile

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.