bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Short Interest Down 26.8% in February

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,990,000 shares, a drop of 26.8% from the February 13th total of 2,720,000 shares. Currently, 20.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 474,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. purchased a new stake in bluebird bio in the 4th quarter valued at about $175,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,841,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after purchasing an additional 43,382 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 237,648 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 77,293 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of bluebird bio in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,683,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 166,771 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLUE. StockNews.com began coverage on bluebird bio in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Barclays raised their price target on bluebird bio from $2.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on bluebird bio from $40.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Baird R W cut bluebird bio from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded bluebird bio from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, bluebird bio has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.10.

bluebird bio Stock Up 5.6 %

BLUE opened at $3.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.11 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.19. bluebird bio has a 12 month low of $3.56 and a 12 month high of $30.90.

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.