Short Interest in Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) Grows By 9.5%

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,330,000 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the September 30th total of 16,740,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,860,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.9 days.

Editas Medicine Trading Down 4.0 %

EDIT stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $2.90. 1,959,037 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,913,777. The stock has a market cap of $238.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.44 and a beta of 1.99. Editas Medicine has a one year low of $2.90 and a one year high of $11.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.59.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.70) by ($0.12). Editas Medicine had a negative return on equity of 62.61% and a negative net margin of 288.59%. The business had revenue of $0.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.56) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 82.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Editas Medicine will post -2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EDIT shares. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Editas Medicine from $7.00 to $3.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Editas Medicine in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays cut their target price on Editas Medicine from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Editas Medicine from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Chardan Capital lowered their price target on shares of Editas Medicine from $20.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.91.

Institutional Trading of Editas Medicine

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EDIT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Editas Medicine by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,555,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,483,000 after acquiring an additional 93,740 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Editas Medicine by 10.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,459,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,486,000 after acquiring an additional 223,012 shares during the last quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Editas Medicine by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 675,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,152,000 after purchasing an additional 225,000 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Editas Medicine by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 526,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,460,000 after buying an additional 174,993 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Editas Medicine by 59.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 314,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after buying an additional 116,803 shares during the period. 71.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.