bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.14.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of bluebird bio from $60.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of bluebird bio in a report on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of bluebird bio in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of bluebird bio in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “sell” rating for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On bluebird bio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 166,771 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 43,382 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 8.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 186,903 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 19.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 685,757 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 111,574 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

bluebird bio Trading Up 14.9 %

BLUE opened at $8.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.21 million, a P/E ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $8.62 and its 200-day moving average is $13.89. bluebird bio has a 52-week low of $5.80 and a 52-week high of $64.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($8.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($8.00) by ($0.40). The firm had revenue of $16.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.09 million. bluebird bio had a negative net margin of 565.74% and a negative return on equity of 322.46%. Analysts expect that bluebird bio will post -1.35 EPS for the current fiscal 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.