Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) Short Interest Update

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 15,066,130 shares, an increase of 57.6% from the May 14th total of 9,561,026 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,478,910 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 15.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Editas Medicine Stock Performance

EDIT traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,599,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,951,952. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.54 million, a P/E ratio of -1.94 and a beta of 2.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $2.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.45. Editas Medicine has a twelve month low of $1.66 and a twelve month high of $4.54.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.04. Editas Medicine had a negative net margin of 281.59% and a negative return on equity of 677.39%. The business had revenue of $2.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Editas Medicine will post -1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EDIT. Robert W. Baird set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Editas Medicine in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Editas Medicine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. JonesTrading raised shares of Editas Medicine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Editas Medicine in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Chardan Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Editas Medicine from $3.50 to $4.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gilmore Neil O’neill sold 15,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.70, for a total value of $41,526.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 248,313 shares in the company, valued at $670,445.10. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,575 shares of company stock valued at $44,753. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Editas Medicine

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EDIT. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 138.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,039,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762,378 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,600,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430,000 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 761.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 800,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,776,000 after purchasing an additional 707,181 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,584,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,497,000 after purchasing an additional 614,229 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Editas Medicine during the 4th quarter worth $1,166,000. 71.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on translating the power of gene editing into a new class of transformative genomic medicines. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company leverages proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a (Cpf1) platforms to develop therapies aimed at correcting disease-causing genetic mutations. Editas Medicine’s research and development efforts span multiple therapeutic areas, including inherited retinal diseases, hemoglobinopathies, and oncology.

The company’s pipeline includes EDIT-101, a lead candidate designed to treat Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10), which has entered early-stage clinical trials, and EDIT-301, targeting sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia using an ex vivo editing approach.