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

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 13,770,000 shares, a decrease of 21.0% from the February 13th total of 17,440,000 shares. Approximately 17.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on EDIT. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Editas Medicine from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $7.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Editas Medicine from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America downgraded Editas Medicine from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $1.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Editas Medicine from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Editas Medicine from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.83.

Institutional Trading of Editas Medicine

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EDIT. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Editas Medicine by 133.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 529,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 302,652 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Editas Medicine by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 56,986 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Editas Medicine by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 54,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 14,888 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Editas Medicine by 110.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 106,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Editas Medicine in the 3rd quarter valued at about $240,000. 71.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Editas Medicine Stock Performance

Shares of EDIT traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $1.35. 1,325,709 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,275,231. Editas Medicine has a 12-month low of $1.12 and a 12-month high of $8.44. The company has a market cap of $111.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.53 and a beta of 1.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.32.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.55) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by ($0.16). Editas Medicine had a negative return on equity of 80.13% and a negative net margin of 340.96%. The firm had revenue of $30.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Editas Medicine will post -2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

About Editas Medicine

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.