Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) Short Interest Up 21.7% in March

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,160,000 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the February 28th total of 9,990,000 shares. Currently, 15.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Beam Therapeutics news, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of Beam Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 908,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,306,628.25. The trade was a 3.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christine Bellon sold 1,241 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $30,627.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,541,250.24. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BEAM. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Beam Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 816.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Beam Therapeutics by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.45.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Down 9.7 %

NASDAQ BEAM opened at $17.64 on Wednesday. Beam Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $17.55 and a 52 week high of $35.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.02 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.80.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.25) by $0.16. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. The business had revenue of $30.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 90.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.57 EPS for the current year.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.