bluebird bio Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:BLUE)

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 27,165 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,278% compared to the average volume of 1,972 call options.

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in bluebird bio by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $13,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,081 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in bluebird bio by 315.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,013,144 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in bluebird bio by 2,270.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 371,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 355,562 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in bluebird bio by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after buying an additional 186,903 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in bluebird bio by 273.7% in the third 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. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLUE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on bluebird bio from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America downgraded shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $3.00 to $0.50 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of bluebird bio from $4.00 to $2.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of bluebird bio from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.03.

bluebird bio Stock Down 39.7 %

Shares of BLUE stock opened at $0.44 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $0.73. bluebird bio has a 12 month low of $0.29 and a 12 month high of $5.53. The stock has a market cap of $86.29 million, a P/E ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.72. 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 shares are going to reverse split before the market opens on Friday, December 13th. The 1-20 reverse split was announced on Wednesday, December 4th. The number of shares owned by shareholders will be adjusted after the closing bell on Thursday, December 12th.

bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, September 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $18.57 million during the quarter. bluebird bio had a negative net margin of 565.74% and a negative return on equity of 322.46%. On average, research analysts expect that bluebird bio will post -1.35 earnings per share for the current 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.