bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) Short Interest Update

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,410,000 shares, a drop of 6.6% from the December 15th total of 2,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 405,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.9 days. Currently, 25.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

bluebird bio Stock Performance

BLUE traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $8.35. 109,879 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 426,810. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $81.16 million, a P/E ratio of -0.22 and a beta of 0.68. bluebird bio has a 52 week low of $5.80 and a 52 week high of $38.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.12 and a 200 day moving average of $12.23.

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLUE. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in bluebird bio by 19.4% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 25.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 292,436 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 59,219 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 1,013,144 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in bluebird bio by 152.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 74,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 186,903 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLUE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of bluebird bio from $2.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of bluebird bio from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America cut bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com began coverage on bluebird bio in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on bluebird bio from $60.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.14.

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.