Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) was the target of a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,680,000 shares, a drop of 10.8% from the November 15th total of 11,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Beam Therapeutics to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Beam Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John M. Evans sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $1,476,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 938,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,091,011.40. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Giuseppe Ciaramella sold 51,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $1,347,259.60. Following the sale, the president now owns 109,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,194. This represents a 31.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,894 shares of company stock valued at $4,181,745 in the last ninety days. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 2,648.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,642 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 200.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 350.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. 99.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BEAM traded down $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $28.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 484,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,875. Beam Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $20.84 and a fifty-two week high of $49.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of -16.21 and a beta of 1.90.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.52 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.22) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Beam Therapeutics

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.