Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ:BPMC) Sees Large Volume Increase - Still a Buy?

Shares of Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:BPMC - Get Free Report) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 2,687,975 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 99% from the previous session's volume of 1,354,059 shares.The stock last traded at $129.25 and had previously closed at $128.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BPMC shares. Stephens cut Blueprint Medicines from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut Blueprint Medicines from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $143.00 to $129.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Guggenheim set a $132.00 target price on Blueprint Medicines in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wedbush cut Blueprint Medicines from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $128.00 to $129.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blueprint Medicines in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $128.25.

Blueprint Medicines Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of -52.35 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $116.53 and a 200 day moving average of $101.48.

Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ:BPMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.32). Blueprint Medicines had a negative net margin of 27.70% and a negative return on equity of 64.60%. The business had revenue of $149.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $158.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blueprint Medicines Corporation will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey W. Albers sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.14, for a total transaction of $505,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 146,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,830,158.20. This trade represents a 3.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ariel Hurley sold 2,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.13, for a total value of $283,813.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,747,434.72. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 13,351 shares of company stock valued at $1,384,244. 4.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Blueprint Medicines in the fourth quarter valued at about $291,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Blueprint Medicines by 70.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,276 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Blueprint Medicines by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,221 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blueprint Medicines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,104,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blueprint Medicines by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period.

About Blueprint Medicines

Blueprint Medicines Corporation, a precision therapy company, develops medicines for genomically defined cancers and blood disorders in the United States and internationally. The company is developing AYVAKIT for the treatment of systemic mastocytosis (SM) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors; BLU-263, an orally available, potent, and KIT inhibitor for the treatment of indolent SM, and other mast cell disorders.