Short Interest in bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Drops By 26.8%

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) saw a significant drop in short interest during 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. Based on an average daily volume of 474,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 20.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On bluebird bio

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. acquired a new stake in bluebird bio during the fourth quarter worth $175,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in bluebird bio by 273.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 252,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 184,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,433,000 after buying an additional 166,771 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 43,382 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of bluebird bio during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

bluebird bio Stock Up 0.5 %

BLUE opened at $3.75 on Monday. bluebird bio has a fifty-two week low of $3.56 and a fifty-two week high of $30.90. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.24. The company has a market capitalization of $36.46 million, a P/E ratio of -0.10 and a beta of 0.76.

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.