Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,240,000 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the October 15th total of 18,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Editas Medicine

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EDIT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 10.5% during the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 31,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 10.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 2.9% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 137,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 3,862 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 20.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 4,089 shares during the period. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 64.2% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EDIT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Editas Medicine in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James downgraded Editas Medicine from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Editas Medicine from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Editas Medicine from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Editas Medicine from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.08.

Editas Medicine Price Performance

NASDAQ:EDIT opened at $2.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.35. The stock has a market cap of $204.72 million, a P/E ratio of -0.97 and a beta of 2.01. Editas Medicine has a 1-year low of $2.47 and a 1-year high of $11.69.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.75) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75). The company had revenue of $0.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 million. Editas Medicine had a negative net margin of 340.96% and a negative return on equity of 80.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.55) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Editas Medicine will post -2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Editas Medicine Company Profile

Editas Medicine, Inc, a clinical stage genome editing company, focuses on developing transformative genomic medicines to treat a range of serious diseases. It develops a proprietary gene editing platform based on CRISPR technology. The company develops EDIT-101, which is in Phase 1/2 BRILLIANCE trial for Leber Congenital Amaurosis; and reni-cel, a clinical development gene-edited medicine to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.