Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE)

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLUE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on bluebird bio from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of bluebird bio in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lowered shares of bluebird bio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $3.00 to $0.50 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on bluebird bio from $4.00 to $2.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of bluebird bio in a report on Friday, November 15th. Three 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.03.

bluebird bio Price Performance

NASDAQ BLUE opened at $0.44 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $0.29 and a 1 year high of $5.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $0.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.73. The company has a market cap of $86.29 million, a P/E ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.72.

bluebird bio’s stock is going to reverse split on the morning of 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, September 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter. bluebird bio had a negative net margin of 565.74% and a negative return on equity of 322.46%. The firm had revenue of $18.57 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that bluebird bio will post -1.35 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On bluebird bio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLUE. Allegheny Financial Group LTD acquired a new position in bluebird bio during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of bluebird bio during the third quarter valued at $42,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in bluebird bio by 152.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 74,185 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in bluebird bio by 113.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 54,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 29,113 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of bluebird bio by 48.2% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 237,648 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 77,293 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.