Short Interest in Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) Expands By 6.6%

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,010,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 16,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.4 days.

Editas Medicine Trading Up 3.4 %

Editas Medicine stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $4.01. The company had a trading volume of 371,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,871,995. Editas Medicine has a 12-month low of $3.40 and a 12-month high of $11.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.41 and its 200-day moving average is $5.51. The company has a market capitalization of $329.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 1.99.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.70) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $0.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 million. Editas Medicine had a negative return on equity of 62.61% and a negative net margin of 288.59%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 82.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.56) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Editas Medicine will post -2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Editas Medicine

In related news, EVP Linda Burkly sold 11,886 shares of Editas Medicine stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.42, for a total value of $64,422.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,136 shares in the company, valued at $396,397.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Editas Medicine news, EVP Baisong Mei sold 6,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.21, for a total value of $34,484.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,413 shares in the company, valued at $700,291.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Linda Burkly sold 11,886 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.42, for a total transaction of $64,422.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 73,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $396,397.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,578 shares of company stock worth $105,997 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 31,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 3,089 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Editas Medicine by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 137,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 3,862 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Editas Medicine by 401.9% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 4,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Editas Medicine by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares in the last quarter. 71.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on EDIT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Editas Medicine in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Editas Medicine from $20.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Editas Medicine in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Editas Medicine from $15.00 to $7.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Editas Medicine from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.90.

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.