StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE)

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on BLUE. Barclays upped their price objective on bluebird bio from $2.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on bluebird bio from $40.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Baird R W downgraded bluebird bio from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded bluebird bio from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

bluebird bio Price Performance

bluebird bio stock opened at $3.90 on Thursday. bluebird bio has a 12 month low of $3.56 and a 12 month high of $29.00. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.03. The company has a market cap of $37.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.10 and a beta of 0.76.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of bluebird bio in the fourth quarter worth about $175,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of bluebird bio by 1.1% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in bluebird bio by 48.2% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 237,648 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 77,293 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in bluebird bio in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in bluebird bio by 3.7% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors 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.