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

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 27,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,278% compared to the typical volume of 1,972 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLUE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of bluebird bio in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of bluebird bio in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Bank of America cut shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $3.00 to $0.50 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of bluebird bio from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of bluebird bio in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.03.

bluebird bio Stock Up 2.6 %

BLUE stock opened at $0.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $0.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $0.72. bluebird bio has a 12 month low of $0.29 and a 12 month high of $5.53. 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 capitalization of $88.51 million, a P/E ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.72.

Shares of bluebird bio are set 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 market closes on Thursday, December 12th.

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

Institutional Trading of bluebird bio

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,723,081 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 166,771 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,841,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,996,000 after purchasing an additional 43,382 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 186,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of bluebird bio by 315.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.