Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,830,000 shares, an increase of 27.7% from the March 31st total of 14,740,000 shares. Approximately 23.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEAM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Beam Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $50.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Beam Therapeutics news, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,663 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total value of $562,666.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,097,669.15. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Giuseppe Ciaramella sold 7,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total value of $136,413.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 190,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,490,463.60. This represents a 3.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,771 shares of company stock worth $803,198 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BEAM. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Beam Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 79.8% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,684 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 3,153 shares of the company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.68% of the company's stock.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of BEAM traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $15.76. The stock had a trading volume of 598,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,411,615. Beam Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $13.53 and a 12-month high of $35.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.99 and a beta of 2.35. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $20.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.46.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.11) by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $7.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.69 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.21) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.57 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.