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

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 507,400 shares, a decrease of 71.5% from the March 31st total of 1,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 410,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days. Currently, 5.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted 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 valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 184,605 shares during the last quarter. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. purchased a new stake in bluebird bio during the 4th quarter worth approximately $175,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in bluebird bio by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,841,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,996,000 after buying an additional 43,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 166,771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

bluebird bio Stock Performance

Shares of BLUE opened at $4.16 on Monday. bluebird bio has a 12-month low of $3.56 and a 12-month high of $28.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.73 million, a P/E ratio of -0.11 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BLUE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of bluebird bio from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on bluebird bio from $40.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com started coverage on bluebird bio in a research report on Monday, April 21st. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of bluebird bio from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, bluebird bio presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.60.

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.